


A Different Perspective

by StellaStarMagic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gender Dysphoria, Genderbending, Identity Issues, Not A Fix-It, Teen Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:48:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 26
Words: 79,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22953583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellaStarMagic/pseuds/StellaStarMagic
Summary: When trying to stop his godfather from falling through the Veil of Death, Harry fell through with him. Death was none too pleased to see him this early in its realm, however, so he got another chance at life. Not as Harry though. His new life would be that of Rose Potter, Harry Potter's twin sister.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger, Rose Potter/Cedric Diggory
Comments: 370
Kudos: 607





	1. A Different Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone. I used to be ynmidk. If you are curious about what happened to my old accounts and the rest of my fics, there's an explanation on my new FFN account (same name as here).

Sweat was pouring down his face, his body aching with cuts and bruises and the _Cruciatus Curse's_ aftershocks. He was looking in desperation as his friends – those who still were able – were trying to help their reinforcements in whichever way they could.

This was his fault. All of this was his fault. Yes, Voldemort _did_ trick him, but did he actually take a moment to _think_? Did _he_ take a moment to sit down and consider that Voldemort might _not_ be entirely truthful? He _was_ his sworn enemy after all. He _was_ a homicidal maniac. Double-checking any and all messages, visions and anything else of the sort, one would receive from someone like Voldemort, should be a given, but apparently not for him. He just rushed headfirst into danger, never thinking, and ended up accomplishing nothing other than dragging others down with him.

His gaze locked onto Sirius and Bellatrix, the cousins engaged in a frantic, yet mesmerizing duel; a sight to behold, which quickly turned to horror when Sirius got stunned.

Everything seemed to slow down as Sirius slowly fell towards the Veil behind him. Harry got up and ran, his godfather both inching closer to the Veil and farther away from him. He heard screams and laughter and somewhere, in that horrid mixture of voices, he was sure he heard himself.

Just out of reach, he saw Sirius touch the Veil of Death and the moment he did ghostly hands reached for him, pulling him in. Harry reached him moments later, desperately trying to pull him away, ignoring everything happening around him and _that_ , he realized, was his last mistake, when his hands touched the veil and everything went black.

* * *

He regained consciousness seconds, minutes or maybe hours later, his head throbbing a bit as memories of what happened flooded his mind once more.

Voldemort, the ministry, Sirius and Bellatrix, the Veil of Death...it was, to be blunt, a giant clusterfuck and all of it centred around him.

"Shite," he muttered with a sigh, his head cradled in his hands. He then slowly got up to look around, see if he could figure out where he was, where Sirius was. It was very likely that he fell through the Veil of Death with his godfather, but what did that _actually_ mean? Was he _dead_? Was he somewhere at the crossroads between life and death? Where was Sirius?

He couldn't really tell, because, once he took a moment to look, there was nothing but eternal black. He might as well have just closed his eyes. It felt like he was standing on something solid at least, even if it looked like he was standing on _nothing_. It didn't matter where he looked – everything was pure blackness.

He took a step forward – at least he thought it was forward – when a sudden voice made his very bones tremble, and he meant that as literally as possible.

"Mr Potter. Why are you here?"

He stopped in his tracks and frantically looked around, but there was still nothing he could make out, not even the faintest of shapes of anything. It was just him, the eternal nothingness and the _voice_.

"Who are you?" he asked, hating how unsteady his voice was. "Where am I? Where's Sirius?"

For the first time since he arrived, he could make out _something_ in front of him and it made him take a step backwards. It was big, _really_ big. Thin, sickly so, and easily twice his size, probably a bit more. It walked towards him in slow, deliberate steps and once it was right in front of him, it stopped.

"I see. You do not know where you are, even when you allowed yourself to be dragged into my realm, into the Afterlife."

Harry's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when the words sunk in, even when he knew it was a possibility. He was actually, truly _dead_. His life was over. He felt a bit bad but...if he was honest, a bit of relief did wash over him. Wasn't his life just a huge pile of problems after problems after problems? Wasn't he constantly straddling the line between life and death? It probably wouldn't be too bad. He might even see his parents again.

"I do not think so, Mr Potter," the figure said, its voice rattling his very skull. "Your time has not come yet."

"You can...read my mind?" That was kind of bollocks, if he may be so frank.

"I do not need to read your thoughts for your thoughts are as open to me as if you spoke them yourself."

 _Great_. "Are you...you know, are you _Death_? What did you mean when you said 'your time has not come yet'?"

"I am Death, indeed. And is it not obvious? You died too soon, Mr Potter."

He would have laughed if it wasn't such a completely ludicrous notion but, somehow, still so unbelievably _typical_ of him that he even managed to mess up his own death. _I can_ ' _t even die right_. "What about Sirius? Was it _his_ time? And what does it mean for me that I died...too soon?"

"Mr Black died as and when he was supposed to. His soul is on its way to the Eternal Wheel, awaiting its return to life. As for you...your case is a bit more complicated, I am afraid."

"Yep, that's me." He couldn't help the snark, even when he was standing in front of Death itself, even when his throat choked up because Sirius...Sirius died for his stupidity. The guilt in the pit of his stomach solidified and he just wanted to sit down and cry.

"Indeed. The dice of Life and Fate did not roll in your favour, did they?" A chuckle escaped Death and Harry felt as if space itself was vibrating, pulverizing his bones. "I have to send you back, Mr Potter."

He groaned. No time to grief, it seemed. _Bloody great_. _The Boy Who Lived Part 2. Just kill me now._

"You are already dead, Mr Potter. There is no reason to kill you again."

He wasn't sure if Death made a joke or not, so he just opted to ignore it. "So...you send me back? What does that mean for me? Do I just get thrown out of the Veil?"

"No, Mr Potter. The pathway to my realm is a one-way-trip I am afraid. Only I, Life and Fate have the power to send someone back. But heed my advice, Mr Potter," Death said as its voice suddenly grew menacing, the faceless figure towering over him, "use this second opportunity wisely because if you do not...if you squander your life again, as you have just before, we will not have a repeat of this friendly chat."

Harry gulped audibly, staring at the silhouette before he got a bit angry at Death and his _past_ life. "What...what do you want me to change? What was I supposed to do?! I didn't know anything! No one ever told me anything, explained anything! I wasn't prepared for anything!"

"Have _you_ not made any mistakes?"

Deflating again, Harry's mind returned to Sirius, making him sigh, the guilt still sitting heavily in his stomach. "I guess...I could think a bit before acting?"

"Mr Potter," Death began, "I am of the mind that a change of perspectives might be more beneficial for you."

"What does _that_ mean?" Harry asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"A change of perspective, a different point of view, a different angle." The silhouette of a thin and bony hand appeared in the blackness and Harry could _just barely_ make out small things whirling wildly on its palm. "My dice will decide under which circumstances you will be returned to life."

"Wha-what do you mean?" Harry asked, a bit of panic creeping into his voice. "Why can't I just be returned into the ministry?"

"That is, of course, a possibility, albeit a small one," Death mused. "You could also be returned to your mother's womb, or to the day you experienced your first bout of accidental magic. You could return as another magical child who ends up befriending Harry Potter or you could return as Harry Potter's sibling...possibilities I would prefer for _perspective_ reasons."

Gaping openly now, Harry tried to process the implications of what Death said. "But-how? Why?!"

"Reality has infinite layers, Mr Potter. In the grand, cosmic scheme of things, even the biggest changes are microscopic at best. When you are returned to life, your previous life will just be rewritten up to the point of your return and the rest – in case you return prior to your death – will be erased. As easy as that, nothing special."

 _Sure_ , _delete reality. No big deal_.

" _But_ ," Death continued, "one thing will stay the same. Your Fate is bound to Tom Marvolo Riddle's. I will allow you to keep your memories of your past life so you have a bigger chance not to die too soon, a small nudge in the right direction if you will. Whether you return as Harry Potter or not, you _will_ face Mr Riddle again. You _will_ either kill him yourself as Harry Potter or you _will_ help the new reality's Harry Potter to do so."

"But I _am_ Harry Potter!" Harry insisted.

"Your named body is a mere technicality, not a requirement tied to your fate."

"Bu-but how can I be someone else other than myself?!"

"Again, Mr Potter, it is not a guarantee that you will return in a different body. And, _again_ , a different body means a different perspective, which might be a possible edge for you. Are you ready to return?"

" _No_!" He was _so_ not ready.

"Regardless." Death closed its hand around the things on its palm-its dice maybe-before opening its hand again, a sudden blinding light shining from those things, illuminating the blackness, before its voice rattled his bones one last time. "Good luck, _Soul #39772066449276848_."

* * *

He woke up with a gasp, jerking upright and hitting his head on something. Tears immediately collected in his eyes at the pain as he clutched his forehead.

"You okay, Rosie?"

He was startled at the voice and movement coming from next to him. A single light bulb above him was turned on and gave him vision, which he now found really regrettable.

He was in the cupboard again.

He turned around towards the voice and nearly shrieked. He was looking at himself! Literally! No mirror but he – _Harry Potter_ – right next to him, green eyes, untameable black hair and all that jazz!

He could feel a headache rapidly approaching and it wasn't from when he hit his forehead against the stupid stairs above him. What was-? Yes. He died, he remembered. Veil of Death, ministry, fifth year, Death. Yes, the literal personification of Death. Death, the giant bloke. Death did it. Or its dice did it. Death actually went through with this randomization and, well, congratulations. A new perspective, indeed.

He looked at himself again and it was the weirdest thing he ever did. He looked at his concerned self from…around five or six years ago, if he had to take a guess.

"I'm fine," he said and his voice sounded weirdly high pitched, even for his age.

"You sure?" Harry... _the other_ Harry asked. What was he called earlier?

Something...Ro...Rosie. Probably a nickname for Rose. Rose was a girl's name.

 _Please don_ ' _t tell me_ …

He carefully squeezed his legs together and…

Yes. There was _nothing_.

"Do you have to go to the loo?" He- _Harry_ asked him – apparently now _her_.

"Yeah," he- _she_ squeaked out while trying not to scream. _Why_ did these things keep happening to him?! He didn't even know how to _be_ a girl! If reincarnation was an actual thing and was not gender-limited, then why couldn't Death provide him with memories of a past life when he _was_ a girl?! Stupid dice, stupid random resurrection/reincarnation/rebirth/whatever it was called.

"There's something else, isn't there?" The other Harry – or just Harry, since _he_ wasn't Harry anymore – asked. "We aren't twins for nothing. I can tell."

"Don't-"

Stomping steps coming down the stairs interrupted him- _her_ before the door to the cupboard was yanked open and he- _she_ -and then the-other-reality-Harry were dragged out, a smell of colour hitting them almost violently. Ha- _Rose_ remembered Petunia dying h- _her_ old school clothing grey, which meant...Hogwarts letters.

"Go wash up, prepare breakfast and be on your very best behaviour, or so help me," Petunia all but hissed at them

She then left to dote over her fat pudding of a son or something, leaving Harry – this was so weird and he had no clue how he was supposed to get used to this – and him- _her_ to do as she asked.

"Go ahead, you said you had to use to the loo."

Smiling at... _Harry_ , he- _SHE_ did just so and quickly went to the bathroom before closing the door behind hi- _HERself_. Not wasting any time, he- _shE_ looked at the mirror and gasped.

Rose, or Rosie, was basically a miniature Lily Potter. Same hair, same eyes, even the face was how he imagined her to look like at that age.

This was all way too complicated, way too much. He...ugh, _she_ could have eventually dealt with being another bloke, but _this_? H- _She_ was _her_ own twin _sister_. How was he supposed to be a girl? How was he supposed to deal with having... _that_ every month? How was he supposed to deal with growing breasts and how was he supposed to _be a girl_?

A groan escaped h- _her_ and h- _her_ legs squeezed automatically together at the sudden pressure from the bladder. Without thinking, h- _she_ pulled down pants and underwear and stood in front of the toilet, about to relax and ready to go, before h- _her_ eyes popped wide open when there was nothing to grab for... _aiming purposes_ and h- _she_ quickly sat down, feeling h- _her-_ face heat up. A sigh escaped _her_ as _she_ felt the trickle _down there_. Elbows resting on _her_ thighs and head on _her_ hands, a desperate half-sob-half-chuckle escaped _her_.

 _A bloody disaster. She_ even had to get used to a different way to pee.

Once done _she_ remained seated for a moment as another realization hit. _She_ glanced at the toilet paper and then between _her_ legs and groaned. Not even _a_ _day._

* * *

With a furious blush, Ha- _Rose_ arrived in the kitchen, _her_ brother _Harry_ busy with the bacon. _She_ walked up to him, touching him on his arm.

"Go wash up, I'll take over."

He nodded in thanks and left for the bathroom, _Rose_ ignoring the Dursleys while trying to listen for the mail's arrival. It didn't take long for the telltale sound of the mail-slot to be heard.

"I'll get the mail, Aunt Petunia," _Rose_ said, making _her_ way to the door. Once in the hallway, _Rose_ quickly made for the mail, sifting through them and-

Yes, Hogwarts' invitation for _Harry J. Potter_ and _Rose L. Potter._

Without thinking, _she_ stuffed both letters into the waistband of _her_ _knickers_ , and went back to the kitchen, face a perfect picture of innocence.

The rest of the breakfast went off without a hitch, Dudley soon after going outside to play with his friends, Vernon leaving for work and Petunia doing _something_ , forcing Harry and _Rose_ to stay with Figg. _Rose_ remembered that lady to be a squib. Safe space to open the letters.

* * *

 _Rose_ pulled Harry aside in Figg's living room, the woman busy in the kitchen, leaving them to watch TV, and handed Harry his letter.

"What's that?" He asked _her_.

"I don't know, but I didn't want Vernon to take them away or something," _she_ said. "Look at how they are addressed."

Harry did just that and, curiously, opened the letter, eyes widening with every word and every sentence. The wonder on his face brought a touch of nostalgia and hurt. _She_ knew exactly what this Harry was feeling because _she_ was _him_ once before. The wonder, the excitement. Someone out there was interested in him, someone out there knew about him, someone out there _cared_. For the first time in his life, _this_ Harry felt not invisible or irrelevant. For the first time in his life, _this_ Harry felt hope.

Blinking away tears threatening to spill – was that a girl thing or did _she_ really feel so bad for _this_ Harry/ _her_ old self that _she_ was about to cry? – _she_ opened her own letter.

"Rosie! I-is this real? Do you think-do you think this is real?"

Before _she_ could answer, Mrs Figg returned to the living room and saw them with their letters in their hands. "Oh dear!" The woman smiled at them, about as excited as _this_ Harry looked. "You received your Hogwarts letters already!"

Harry looked confused for a moment before the implications of that sentence sunk in. "You knew about this, Mrs Figg? Does that mean you are...you know?"

"Oh no, my dear," the woman waved him off. "But, I think it is time for a call."

She then proceeded to take a pinch of powder from a bowl near her fireplace, which was burning in the middle of summer but that woman was always weird, so neither _this_ Harry nor _Rose_ questioned her as _Rose_ didn't when _she_ was Harry in her old life. Mrs Figg then tossed the powder into the fireplace and stuck her head into the green flames, Harry's expression one of pure shock and _Rose_ had to do her best to look equally as shocked as _this_ Harry did instead of giggling. _She_ was _almost_ looking forward to seeing _this_ Harry experience all the...magical aspects of life for the first time.

Maybe this whole new perspective thing wasn't all that bad. Even if _she_ had to be a girl for it.

Stupid dice.


	2. McGonagall

It was... _odd_. No, it was _bizarre_. _She_ and her... _twin brother_ , who looked exactly like _she_ did in her previous life at this date because _she_ happened to be _him_ back then, were both holding their Hogwarts letters while Mrs Figg was chatting with whomever via floo, which meant her head was enveloped in green flames in her fireplace. It was bizarre because _she_ was standing next to the person _she_ once was, in a body that felt so completely foreign, it was hard to describe. Like she was wearing someone else's skin. A new name, a new pronoun, new sex, a semi-new life. Same old Harry, with the exception that it was not _her_ who was same old Harry. _This_ new Harry was the same old Harry. _She_ was Rose.

Yeah. Bizarre.

Mrs Figg pulled her head from the fireplace and, with a little struggle, got back to her feet. "Someone will come in a few minutes and explain everything to you children," the squib said.

 _Rose_ nodded while Harry just looked flabbergasted.

"How-? What-?" Harry tried to ask things but failed.

She giggled at that, which was such a weird sound coming from her mouth. But still, _this_ Harry's reaction was funny, she couldn't help it. Was _she_ like that back in her old life when _she_ was Harry?

Before _she_ could dwell on it any further, the flames roared green once more, startling Harry and _her_ – it was so sudden! – before someone stepped out.

Rose was surprised to see Professor McGonagall instead of Hagrid, although it might have been problematic for the half-giant to fit through there. Maybe, back in her past life, the Gryffindor Head of House had no time, so Hagrid was sent in her stead and the timing and everything just happened to align with Vernon dragging them off to fuck-knows-where?

"Arabella," the Professor greeted Mrs Figg first, which she enthusiastically returned.

"Professor McGonagall, good to see you! Would you like some tea? Please take a seat and feel at home."

"I would, thank you." The Professor then turned to Harry and her, Harry still staring at everything that was going on with an open mouth and the letter still in his hands. "Mr and Miss Potter, please." She gestured at the sofa before sitting down.

Rose walked to the sofa, grabbing Harry by the arm to make him join them. She turned the TV off and then sat down, as did Harry, both of them looking expectantly at McGonagall.

_Once all of this is over I might be able to be an actor...I mean actress, bollocks! What with all that acting surprised all the time._

The Professor regarded them with a calculating look at first before visibly softening, something that made Rose raise her brows in surprise. _No need to act this time_.

"Both of you look remarkably like your parents," the Professor began. "My name is Minerva McGonagall. I am the Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress and I teach transfiguration."

"You knew our parents?" Harry blurted out and Rose almost sighed; not out of annoyance but understanding. Hearing nothing but bad things about your parents, their names rarely – if ever – spoken...it did things to you, made you _thirst_ for any little thing you could gather about them just to find out if all of it was true.

"Of course, Mr Potter," McGonagall replied with a barely noticeable, but kind smile. "Both your parents were sorted into my house, Gryffindor, and your father was especially gifted when it came to transfiguration, something that made him a bit of a favourite of mine."

"What's Gryffindor, ma'am?" Rose spoke up, trying to steer the conversation into a more practical direction. They could always talk about their parents later.

McGonagall turned to Rose, a brow rising in obvious disapproval. "Miss Potter, since Hogwarts' uniform consists of skirts for its female students, I suggest you try to sit more appropriately."

Rose cocked her head in confusion and looked down at herself only to blush furiously at her widely spread legs, immediately closing them. She might be wearing trousers now, but once she would have to wear the school uniform, sitting like that would be... _questionable_. "Sorry, I...you see…" she muttered, trying to think of something to say while trying to _not_ think about the fact that she would have to wear _skirts_.

"Rosie's never got to wear any skirts or dresses, ma'am," Harry explained in her stead. "Aunt Petunia just gives us Dudley's old clothes and resizes them a bit at least for Rose. She doesn't really know any different."

Mrs Figg chose then to return with a tray, the promised tea on it, handing each of them a cup and effectively halting the conversation for a moment, giving McGonagall some time to digest _that_ tidbit.

"I see," the Professor said with an unreadable expression after thanking Mrs Figg. "I might have to have a chat with the Headmaster. To answer your question, Miss Potter, Gryffindor is, as I mentioned earlier, my house. Hogwarts students are all sorted into one of its four houses – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin – and will earn or lose points for their house based on their performances during their stay in school. Every house has its own Head of House."

"So, umm...this is all real?" Harry asked. "Everything in the letter and…" His gaze turned towards the fireplace, obviously remembering what he saw there earlier; a woman sticking her head into green flames for example.

"Yes, Mr Potter," McGonagall said, a hint of disappointment just about detectable in her voice, but Rose couldn't really blame her. The child – _children_ – of her favourite students were completely unaware of their true nature, of their family's legacy and looked like street urchins to boot. "Everything you have read in your letter, everything I am telling you is true. Magic is real. _You_ , Mr Potter...you and your sister are a wizard and a witch and if you are anything at all like your parents, then both of you will have a great future to look forward to." She then pulled a wand out of her robes, a small smile toying around her lips at Harry's fascination while Rose did her best to look equally as enthralled. "If you need any more proof…" McGonagall pointed her wand at a vase and transfigured it into a cat before changing it back to its original form again.

"Whoa," Rose whispered, trying to look and sound like a kid seeing real magic for the first time.

"I know!" Harry agreed, sitting next to her, wide-eyed and excited.

It was a reflex, really, when she reached out to close her hand around _this_ Harry's, who shot her a smile and squeezed her own hand in return.

 _She_ was this boy, in a past life. For a moment she wondered how much time had actually passed since the time she died, but, ultimately, it wasn't really relevant. _She_ was this boy, who was sitting next to her, in a past life, but in that life, _she_ had no one. Hagrid, bless his heart, tried to explain things the best he could, but what he could offer in the end was neither fish nor fowl. Still, she loved him to bits and he was one of her dearest friends; the first person who was genuinely nice to her. However, none of it changed that her preparation for the magic world was half-arsed, back in her old life. She knew almost nothing, prepared almost nothing and went in nearly blind. It wasn't all her fault, obviously. Sure, she could have tried to prepare a bit for classes – though Snape's questions in their first potions class _were_ unfair, that bitter old git – but Dumbledore could also have sent someone more...professional. _This_ Harry, still holding her hand, would have a better start into the wizarding world than she did. He would, of course, have to deal with the whispers, the looks, the crazies who wanted to thank him because he didn't die as a baby when he should have. But she would be there, all the way. Was this, maybe, what death meant with 'new perspectives'? Perhaps it was; she couldn't really tell. But seeing the boy _she_ once was go through all the things she had to go through from this, well, _new_ _perspective_ , certainly was already interesting, eye-opening, entertaining and even emotional. It still was a bizarre and messed-up situation, no doubt. She died and got returned to life as her own twin-sister because a dice roll made it so, for fuck's sake! But she would adapt, eventually. She would have to. This body and its hormones and puberty would force her to and she was _so_ not looking forward to _that_.

"Well, then," McGonagall stood up from the sofa, startling Rose from her musings, "I believe it is time for a shopping trip."

Rose couldn't hold back her smile at Harry's – _her_ _brother_ ' _s –_ grin. Pure excitement and joy. She couldn't remember herself being like that, even when all that magic hit her right in the face the moment she stepped into Diagon Alley for the first time. It was odd seeing her old self, _her old identity_ , like this. Was the fact, that he didn't grow up alone at the Dursleys' really such a game-changer? He certainly seemed socially better adjusted than she did in her old life at this age.

Well, if her being thrust into a new reality as a girl was what it took to give a different Harry Potter a somewhat, even if just marginally, happier childhood, then so be it.

She aimed her smile from Harry to McGonagall. "Yes, let's."

* * *

The shopping trip was just as exciting as the first time, without a doubt, if for no other reason than seeing the wonder in Harry's – _her_ _brother's_ _–_ eyes. After visiting Gringotts first – Harry definitely enjoyed the ride to their vault – they got their potions equipment and ingredients and then went to get their robes, thankfully without Malfoy present, but being measured for skirts was a very weird and, well, _different_ experience. Standing there, the fabric being measured and pinned around her hips while her legs were bare, while it felt _airy down there_ , was just _odd_. And then she had to try the skirts on and-

Yeah. Standing there, looking at herself in the mirror, a small red-headed girl, too thin and small for her age, with the mind and memories of a fifteen-year-old teenage boy from a reality which was overwritten in favour of this one. Trying on a skirt. It was weird and odd and it was _her_ but it also was _not her_. Yeah, sure, she looked cute. She did! But her mind wasn't ready for her to be a cute, ten-year-old girl who was trying on a skirt at Madam Malkin's. In her mind, she was still Harry Potter, whose first kiss was a mess of spit and tears…Death should have just overwritten that one. But there she was, ten-year-old _Rose_ Potter, her legs bare and not covered in fabric, feeling _airy_ _down there_ , because she was at Madam Malkin's and trying on a skirt. It wasn't even uncomfortable. In fact, if she was completely honest with herself, wearing a skirt was _bloody_ comfortable and she _very_ briefly wondered if all skirts felt like this. It simply was weird in the sense that it was new and that she was used to being a boy and she had never seen a boy in a skirt – aside from Scots wearing kilts; did kilts count as skirts?

"You okay?" Harry asked her and she turned around, putting on a smile she didn't really feel.

"Yeah, it's just...I've never had anything like this to wear." She wasn't exactly lying there.

"It's going to be alright, Rosie," Harry said before hugging her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Scratch wearing a skirt; _that_ was the weirdest thing at Madam Malkin's.

* * *

Once they finished the rest of their shopping – they got Hedwig again! – Professor McGonagall invited them to eat lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. They sat down together at a table, both Harry and her enjoying the simple pleasures of fish and chips.

"Do you have any more questions?" McGonagall asked them. "Feel free to ask anything before I have to return you to your relatives."

Before Harry could speak up, Rose beat him to the first question. "Do we have to go back?" She couldn't tell if she actually wanted to ask _this_ or something else, but it just came out. She couldn't help herself. Facing the wrath of Vernon when they went and meddled right with that freakishness behind his back, in a young body with no protection? Thank you, but no, thank you.

"Miss Potter..." McGonagall began but seemed unsure how to continue. Rose _knew_ her. McGonagall was as strict as they came and expected nothing less than maximum effort from all her students, but that woman had a heart of gold.

"They are terrible people!" Rose insisted and looked at Harry for support, who just looked entirely uncomfortable. "Harry!" Yes, it was very strange to look at the boy she once was, addressing him by his name when it wasn't _her_ who was _him_.

"They are bad," he finally muttered and _that_ was a milestone. She couldn't remember ever actually talking with someone about what was happening to her in that home in her past life. The closest to it ever actually being discovered was, when the Weasley twins and Ron saw the bars in front of her windows just before the second year. _That_ year was abysmal. Changes were definitely necessary there.

McGonagall looked at both of them before she sighed and spoke up. "Why exactly are they 'terrible people'? What exactly is going on in that house?"

"Do you still have your letter envelope?" Rose asked Harry, who nodded and handed it to her, Rose pulling hers from her trouser's pocket. "Who puts the addresses on the letters?" she asked with the envelopes still in her hands.

"They are written, signed and addressed magically," McGonagall answered.

"Can it be faked?"

"Impossible, Miss Potter."

 _Score_. "Please look at how they are addressed."

McGonagall did just that and Rose could barely make out the anger flaring inside the Professor; the thinning of her lips, the flaring of her nostrils. It was there and years of testing McGonagall's patience taught Rose how to read her former – and hopefully future – Head of House.

"Both of you?" McGonagall finally asked.

"Our whole lives," Rose answered while Harry nodded. "We've... _lived_ together in that cupboard our whole lives. And there's a lot more I could say about the Dursleys."

"Very well. I _will_ speak with the Headmaster about this matter. However, for now," McGonagall put on a smile for the two of them, "would you two like to hear some more about your parents?"

* * *

She couldn't believe it actually worked. While she didn't exactly have to work her tear ducts, pointing out the conditions under which the Potter twins were forced to live definitely sang the tune needed to get McGonagall on their side, and now they were comfortable, upstairs in a two-bed-room in the Leaky Cauldron. She wondered what the Professor told the Headmaster and she wondered how the Headmaster reacted.

Not all was nice though. After McGonagall indulged Harry with nice and fun stories about their parents during their lunch, she moved on to the truth about the late James and Lily Potter and Voldemort. At first, it seemed that Harry had taken it rather pragmatically, as she had when _she_ was _him_. Now, though, she wasn't so sure anymore. She looked at her... _twin_ , sitting on the bed opposite to hers, _brooding_.

...was she like that during fifth year? Because that was getting old real quick and he'd done it only one time since she was returned to life. That one time was right now. Granted, she'd been back with the living for not even a whole day, but still.

With a huff, Rose got up from her bed and walked over to Harry's before sitting next to him. Her legs were again spread in a boyish manner, so, with a sigh, she _very_ consciously closed them. She then glanced at Harry, who was deep in thought, frowning, silent. Oh yes, she'd been there a _billion_ times.

"You okay?" She asked him and at first, Harry didn't answer. She knew that too well; thinking about what to say, how to say it, if something should be said at all. So, she remained seated, forcing her legs to remain closed. It was a conscious effort, which had to become second nature since she didn't want to accidentally flash her knickers to every other bloke passing by. Snorting internally, she imagined herself daintily crossing one leg over the other without even having to think about it. She wondered what _her_ Ron would say. _Her_ Ron. That sounded weird, now that _she_ was a... _She_.

"I don't know," Harry finally said, pulling her from her thoughts. "It's just...our parents got killed...and I should have died, but I didn't...and everyone thinks I'm a hero because of it? It's...I don't know…"

"Crazy? Stupid?" she offered.

"Both?"

"Both it is."

"I feel a bit guilty," Harry continued, "that I didn't die when mum and dad did."

"Now _you_ are crazy and stupid," Rose muttered even though she knew those thoughts and feelings intimately. Logically, they didn't make sense. It didn't make sense to feel guilt over other's decisions and it didn't make sense to feel guilty because one was loved so much that others would willingly lay down their lives for them. But emotions were what they were. They rarely made sense. So, she knew what _this_ Harry was going through, the thoughts and feelings a whirlwind, intertwined and scattered and almost impossible to process.

"Shut up," he muttered and, what was that? Their first minimal moment of sibling bickering? Would that even count? The Weasleys were not really a great point of reference in that regard, as their 'bickering' was more prone to leave behind actual warzones.

With a sigh, she pulled him into a hug after turning her body fully towards him, and he just _melted_ into it. It was curious, how hugging him felt so natural and normal. Was it because they were twins, something subconscious just between them? She didn't know. It was also a curious thing to grow attached to someone whom _she was_ in another life and whom _she remembered being_ , in her head but whom _she wasn't anymore_. And yet, here she was, growing attached to Harry Potter; a different Harry Potter from a different reality, but a Harry Potter still.

"Mum and dad loved us both more than their own lives," she told him, remembering how, in her previous life, she had to remind herself many times of that so she could stifle her own irrational feelings. "I'm sure they'd do it again every time if it meant we get to live."

"I know," he muttered, "it's just…"

Yeah. She understood. It was _just_...everything irrational and sad and it was tearing at something deep, deep down.

"I know," she said. Because she did.


	3. Departure

The coming few days were spent at the Leaky Cauldron and neither Harry nor Rose were complaining. They were enjoying a time of rare freedom and peace, even in Rose's case. It was also time which Rose was using to try and develop a training of sorts in her new body. She _had_ to grow accustomed to it. It would be easy, of course, to play off her 'quirks' as her being tomboyish, but that would only get her _so_ far. She remembered Ginny Weasley from her past life. The youngest Weasley was a bit of a tomboy and still pulled off the more girly aspects of being a girl effortlessly. Granted, growing up with six brothers would make a bit of a tomboy out of you.

She wondered if any of the girls she knew would be mad at her – or at her back when she was Harry Potter – for thinking along those lines, like _girly girls_ and _tomboyish girls_. Should she be mad herself? She was a girl now, after all. She would have to deal with all those things Hermione and Ginny and other girls had to deal with; expectations tied to her sex would make her life more difficult, without a doubt.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked when he entered their room with two bottles of pumpkin juice. He very quickly took to that beverage, just like she did back when _she_ was _him_. _This_ Harry was similar to the Harry _she_ was in so many ways, it really bordered on being eerie. Thankfully, he was still different in enough ways to not make her start questioning her previous existence...yet.

He sat down next to her before handing her one of the bottles. "Thanks," she said before taking a sip. "I was reading. You should too. You know, be prepared and everything."

He groaned but still nodded reluctantly. "I guess. I don't want to look like an idiot."

"I've also been thinking…" Rose chewed on her bottom lip a bit while Harry gave her a curious look. "I want new clothes." There. She said it. Her mind, her _Harry_ - _Potter_ - _from_ - _a different_ - _reality_ -mind, was screaming and blushing and denying that she was actually going there but...she wanted a skirt. From the day she was at Madam Malkin's, trying on skirts, she couldn't stop thinking about skirts and how comfortable and freeing they felt. She had denied it for days. She had ignored that niggling in the back of her mind, in its far recesses. Wearing a skirt? Not if she didn't have to! She was just Harry Potter from a different reality, sent back by Death. She was Harry Potter, who got an unlucky dice roll and ended up in Rose Potter's body. In her memories of her past existence, she was still a bloke. She wouldn't- _couldn_ ' _t_ -want a skirt!

But she did because it felt nice and she looked cute.

But maybe she'd just get a couple of trousers, instead. She didn't have to buy a skirt. They needed other clothing too.

"Okay!" Harry readily agreed, probably just eager to have more things of his own.

She grinned at him, glad that she had years of training in masking her inner turmoil.

* * *

They spent quite a bit of time walking from store to store, exploring lesser-known parts of London's magical district. There was an Alley for muggle-borns and that's where they went shopping for their new wardrobe.

They ended up with three pairs of trousers each, shirts, socks, underwear – really everything necessary one would need when being away in at Hogwarts for almost a year.

She did pass a stand with dresses and skirts several times – not on purpose! – but didn't end up buying anything from there. Hogwarts' uniform skirts were more than enough, right? She didn't need to add any more girl stuff to an already difficult situation, _right_?

She _did_ become more used to _being_ Rose Potter, to _existing_ in this body. It wasn't easy; not by a long shot. Washing herself down there during a shower without encountering the usual equipment was still weird and unsettling in ways she couldn't even begin to describe. But other things, _smaller_ things were starting to become routine, like automatically tucking a strand of hair behind an ear when it would get in her face or brushing her hair before going to sleep and after showering in the mornings – she picked up that routine _very_ quickly after the first annoying mess of tangled hair, which was made a bit embarrassing since she had to go to a hair salon for advice. Small routines, such as that, which she could easily pick up, did help her adapting into this new life but other, bigger steps were still scary. _Incredibly_ scary. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind an ear or brushing her hair so it wouldn't be a tangled mess were, admittedly, things which she did for convenience sake instead of them being girly since they _weren't_ inherently girly things and/or habits, and she knew she would be stupid to think so. _But_ they were things she would oftentimes see Hermione or Ginny do at the Burrow or Lavender or Parvati in the Gryffindor common room. It did help to remember those small things and do them herself to move forward and get used to living as Rose Potter instead of Harry Potter. The _scary_ things, though, _those_ she was dreading. Caring for her body as a girl – she was taught to care for her hair by that friendly lady in the hair salon – girl-talk in the dorms, _make_ - _up_?! What if she _enjoyed_ those things? What would that make her? What would that mean for her sexuality? Would it even change anything or would it just make her a normal girl because her body _was_ that of a normal girl?

It was confusing and she was more than happy to let future-Rose deal with it after they returned to the Leaky Cauldron and Tom told them that they had a visitor upstairs in their room.

Both of them headed upstairs right away after thanking Tom, curious about who would be waiting for them there. Upon reaching the door to their room, they wasted no time to enter and Rose had to stop herself from a surprised gasp.

It was indeed Hogwarts' Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, waiting for them; currently sitting on his conjured and very comfortable looking chair while reading her copy of _Hogwarts_ : _A History_ , which she had left on her bed.

He looked up from his book and, upon seeing them, gave them a warm smile. "Harry, Rose. Please, take a seat. We have to talk about a few things which have been brought to my attention."

Harry glanced at her and she just shrugged in response before heading over to her bed and sitting down, quickly followed by her twin joining her. She was sure this would be about the Dursleys and she didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

"You are probably wondering who I am," Dumbledore began, his piercing blue eyes gazing at them intently. "I am Professor Dumbledore, your Headmaster come September 1st." Harry's eyes widened at that. "Now, Professor McGonagall was quite put out when she confronted me with something that even I found to be deeply unsettling. Is it true that you are being mistreated by your relatives?"

"Yes, sir," Rose answered immediately. If there was even the slimmest of chances to have _this_ Harry spend as little time as possible with those sorry excuses for human beings, then she would do all she could to take it.

"May I ask for you to elaborate?"

She sighed after glancing at Harry, who was just frowning at his lap, his hands toying with the hem of his shirt. "They treat us like slaves, sir. We have to clean their house, cook their food, tend to their garden and they do _nothing_. Only after Professor McGonagall told us about our parents did we find out that they always lied to us. Our uncle beat us when we did better in school than Dudley. Our whole lives we were forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, _together_."

She glanced again at Harry and it was clear how embarrassed he was; his hands tightening around his shirt, his frown intensifying, his jaw clenching. She felt that way, too. She _still_ did. It was humiliating, _degrading_ even, what she had to go through in that house and she didn't even touch on the verbal and psychological abuse, but if she had the chance to at least soften any of that for this Harry this early on then she would do it. She'd, of course, rather forget about all of it and pretend none of it ever happened – ignorance was bliss after all – but if she could help _this_ Harry then she would.

"I see," Dumbledore said, his face impassive. He always was hard to read, this man. "There is a reason you were put there," Dumbledore began, "and it was not out of malice or to hurt you. Your mother's sacrifice created incredibly powerful magic; blood protection to be exact. That protection can create a ward, which is bound by her blood and those who share it – you two, and her sister." He paused for a moment, giving them time to take that information in. She knew all of that already, of course, but _this_ Harry did not. "When I left you in your aunt's care and she accepted you as her own and took you in, the charm I placed upon you fully activated the ward. It is the best possible protection you could have from those who wish you harm."

"But what about...what about those who harm us _in_ that house?" Rose kept on pressing.

"I will talk with them and remind them of a promise they have to keep...lest there will be severe consequences. I am sorry and I understand that it is not what you wished for, but at least one month a year should be spent in your relative's home to keep the blood ward active and healthy."

Dumbledore looked genuinely apologetic and, well, if he could make the Dursleys back off and leave them alone, it would be better than nothing. For the moment it would have to do. It was more important to deal with Pettigrew and get Sirius actually out of Azkaban anyway and for that, the map was needed. All in good time, though.

"If it's only one month," Harry said, looking at her at which she shrugged. If things went how she hoped they would, they'd only have to spend that one month in the summer before second year there.

"We can always spend the rest here. Or maybe we'll make friends and can spend most of the summer with them."

"I am sure you will," Dumbledore smiled at them. "I do sincerely apologize for a less than ideal childhood the two of you had to go through, but I do promise to make it clear to your aunt and uncle that neither of you is to be mistreated any longer."

"Thank you, sir." _This didn't go too badly_. "But we can stay here now until September 1st, right?"

"Of course," he smiled with a twinkle in his eyes, before standing up and vanishing his chair. "I wish you two a pleasant summer and an early happy birthday. I am looking forward to seeing you in Hogwarts." And just like that, he left.

"He seems nice," Harry commented before going over to his bed to start unpacking his new wardrobe.

Rose sighed at that. Dumbledore was a really complicated topic for her. He seemed to care and seemed to have good intentions for her, back when _she_ was Harry, but not always was he successful in actually conveying any of that. It was incredibly hard to figure out what Dumbledore was thinking or what his intentions were in any given situation. It was hard to sort through her feelings when it came to that particular wizard. "He does, doesn't he," she muttered, before busying herself with her new clothes.

* * *

The rest of their summer went by rather uneventfully and for their birthday they just treated themselves for a large bowl of ice cream at Fortescue's. Rose did her best to be prepared for everything this time around. She couldn't actually say that she _knew_ everything she could. She knew she was more of an average student. In some classes, she did well, while in others poorly and in the rest, she was right in the middle. She would do her best to actually, properly apply herself this time. She had to.

She would also do her best to motivate _this_ Harry to actually try and study properly. Always relying on Hermione to bust them out of situations with bouts of brilliance wouldn't work all the time.

So, when they weren't lazing around or strolling through the magical district, Rose would make sure that Harry was preparing at least some of the first-year coursework. No need to make him finish all of the books; that was up to him if he wanted to.

And so, before they knew it, September 1st had arrived. Rose, of course, knew how to get there and how to get to Platform 9 ¾, so a quick lie about how she would ask Tom for information, while Harry was showering, dealt with that.

A wild ride with the _Knight Bus_ late, they reached _King's Cross_ and, with time to spare, dashed through the barrier separating them from the _Hogwarts Express_.

Once they were on the platform, they took a moment to take in the sight in front of them: parents seeing their children off, luggage carried into the big, scarlet railway, owls hooting. Rose would never get tired of this and she knew, Harry would be the same from now on.

He grinned at her, she grinned back and a moment later they headed towards the railway to find a compartment for themselves. She remembered how close she was to being late at this time when _she_ was Harry. Back then, she took the empty compartment at the very back and, wanting to be friends with her old friends again, she motioned for Harry to follow her towards exactly that wagon. A few short moments later, they arrived at their destination and heaved their luggage into the wagon before getting in themselves. Pointing at the empty compartment, they quickly stowed their luggage away and sat down across from each other, Harry unable to stop his grin.

"This is really happening," he finally said and she couldn't help but return it.

It _really_ was happening. She was attending Hogwarts for the second time, but, this time, as a girl and not just any girl; she was attending Hogwarts as _Harry Potter_ ' _s twin sister_. She would like to say that crazier things had happened but unfortunately that was not the case. She was hoping to manage to fit in as _one of the girls_. Over the past month, she at least managed to sort-of-kind-of automatically have her legs closed when sitting, so the danger of accidentally flashing blokes when wearing her school uniform should be out of the window...hopefully.

But she was sort of nervous about seeing her future dorm-mates in any state of undress. How would she react? How should she react? How _could_ she react? Maybe just close her bed's drapes when dressing or undressing? She could just say that she was shy. But what could she do when the other girls would counter with things like ' _we are all girls_ , _it_ ' _s not a big deal_ '? She would only know later tonight how to deal with that situation.

A family of redheads rushed onto the platform, the mother doting on one of the four boys while a single girl was hanging onto her for dear life, looking both sad and excited. She watched them and was really happy to see them again. They were good people, humble, honest and down to earth. Molly Weasley might be a tad overbearing, the siblings might be a tad too loud and rambunctious, Arthur Weasley might be a bit too obsessed with everything muggle, _but_ they all loved each other dearly. They were what family was all about and they did their best to include her in it, back when _she_ was Harry.

"Thinking about joining them?" Harry asked her teasingly, having followed her gaze. She just snorted in return.

"Don't be an idiot. I'd have to leave you behind and you'd be lost without me." He very likely would be and he could give her _that_ look all he wanted, it didn't change anything.

"What house do you think we'll get sorted into?" Harry wondered out loud and she again turned to fully face him.

It still was an odd mixture she was experiencing with _this_ version of who she once was in her past life. So much like her but also so different. Brooding and moody but also so much more social and socially well-adjusted. Whereas she could go for hours without saying a word, he would always find things to talk to her about and was not shy to ask her things, ask for her opinions. He was _her_ in so many ways but then he also _wasn_ ' _t_ her in so many ways. It was an odd balance.

"I don't know," she finally answered his question. Would she be sorted into a different house? "Maybe Gryffindor, like mum and dad."

"Yeah, maybe. I honestly don't care that much as long as we are in the same house."

"I hope so too."


	4. The Sorting

The _Hogwarts Express_ started its journey, slowly making its way out of _King's Cross_. Rose was looking out of the window, watching the landscape speed by faster and faster as they were headed towards Hogwarts, invisible to the muggles' eyes. Before she died, back when she was still Harry Potter, she would always get that _butterflies_ - _in_ - _the_ - _stomach_ -sensation when leaving _King's Cross_ , even after attending Hogwarts for five years. It was no different this time around.

"You excited?" Harry asked her and she nodded in return.

"Yeah." She was excited to return. Hogwarts was her home.

It was then, that a familiar mop of ginger hair peeked into their compartment. "Hi, uh, can I join you guys? Every other compartment seems to be full."

"Sure," Harry said and scooted a bit closer to the window, giving Ron space to put away his luggage.

Once the redhead was done and seated, he looked at them with a friendly, yet shy and awkward smile. "I'm Ron Weasley," he introduced himself and Rose couldn't help the grin she was sporting.

"I'm Harry Potter and that's my twin sister Rose," Harry introduced them, Rose almost sighing at _this_ Harry. He may be socially more well-adjusted and outgoing than she was, but that also meant that he was more forthcoming with things like this, which just meant unnecessary attention. One would think that all those adults hounding him during their shopping trip with McGonagall, would have scared him off of introducing himself with his full name.

"You are Harry Potter? Really? Do you have that...you know?" Ron asked, his eyes fixating rather unabashedly on Harry's forehead.

Harry started to _immediately_ look uncomfortable and Rose couldn't help the chuckle escaping her. At the glare Harry shot her, she just shrugged.

Resigned to his fate, Harry nodded in answer to Ron's question. "Yeah," he said before brushing away his hair covering his scar.

"Oh," Ron replied somewhat anticlimactically, but his curiosity was sated and that was that.

Harry and Ron started to hit it off immediately and Rose left them to their 'boy-talk' – she _did_ kind of miss that – and instead decided to keep on reading _Hogwarts_ : _A_ _History_ , but she found it hard to focus on the words she was seeing. Before getting on the train, she was firmly of a mind to befriend her old friends again. Now, though, she wasn't so sure anymore. Should she just leave Harry to befriend her old friends in her stead? She knew that she _had_ to guide him, to help him manoeuvre in this world, to help him come out on top against their fated adversary, but would she have to smother him in the process? Maybe she could make other friends, _new_ friends and bring all of them together. _Earlier_.

If she was honest, her social circle up to her fifth year was kind of sad, with it consisting of only the Weasley family and Hermione. She barely talked with her own dorm-mates and her interactions with the Quidditch team was reduced to just Quidditch-practice and -matches.

Making space for _this_ Harry, so he could move about on his own a bit, would probably do him some good.

The good thing about the DA was that it brought the houses together and provided some interaction between students who probably had never talked with each other before. The Slytherins were the odd ones out, obviously, but that was understandable. Even _if_ some of them happened to be interested in joining, the atmosphere at Hogwarts was _so_ volatile at that time, they would have been hexed into oblivion by their house-mates, that much was certain.

But the rest of the school's houses profited from it; if not from actually learning DADA, then from actual interactions with students from different houses and years.

And while Harry and Ron were happily chatting on, one other question was weighing on Rose's mind: were her old friends even still _her_ friends? Hermione and Ron were technically _Harry's_ friends and _she_ was Rose. She was not Harry anymore. She had memories of a past life, she had habits and tastes – treacle tart was still the single greatest dessert in any existence – of that time, but none of it changed the fact that she was Rose and not Harry anymore. _Harry_ was Harry. She had memories of a Harry who died and was now Rose.

So, did she even have the right to _claim_ Ron and Hermione as her friends? Her twin and she could, of course, _both_ befriend those two, but just how much would that help with the ' _new perspective_ '-thing? Wouldn't it just prove that she was unable to move on from her past life? This was an entirely new existence for her after all; a new chance at life. While she wasn't sure if it was a boon because she actually did have a family this time around – as bizarre as it was because her old identity in a new reality happened to be her family – or a curse because she still would have to deal with the Dursleys and Voldemort and all that shite, it _was_ a new life, a new chance.

She would have to try and embrace this opportunity. It was unlikely, that her guiding Harry through all the familiar motions of the things she experienced in her past life would actually change a lot; if anything at all. Sure, she could say "let's do this, instead of that!", but ultimately the end-results would all still be the same.

She wasn't Harry anymore, she knew that. She just had to look into a mirror to confirm that fact. Her life as Harry was over; as Death had put it so eloquently, _she_ _did_ _squander_ _it_. It would be difficult, _very_ difficult to adjust. She would definitely need longer than just a couple of months. But hanging onto her old life, onto a life from a reality Death had basically erased from existence, would be unfair to _this_ existence, to herself as _Rose Potter_. It made her heartache, but deep down she knew she would eventually have to say goodbye to her old friends because she was not Harry Potter anymore. Rose Potter would have to make her own mark and live her own life.

Living her old life through Rose Potter would be unfair to herself and _this_ Harry. Being aware of that, however, didn't make letting go any easier.

* * *

The obligatory visits from Malfoy, Neville and Hermione were eerily similar to how they went in her past life. Malfoy just asked if it was true that _the_ _Potters_ were on the train instead of just Harry Potter and Hermione mentioned how she read all about _them_ instead of just about her twin. For the most part, she let Harry handle things, trusting him to make the right decisions and he did not disappoint when he openly rejected Malfoy and was actually nice to Hermione from the very beginning instead of being aloof and distant the way she was in her old life.

Seeing these, even if just small, differences in this Harry compared to how she was, really brought her shortcomings to the forefront of her mind.

Obviously, it was not her fault.

How could anybody expect her to not be mentally and socially stunted after the Dursleys used her as a slave and forced her to live in a cupboard for ten years and fed her mere scraps more often than not?

But seeing this Harry be...more at ease with others made her, admittedly, kind of happy. And all of that just because he didn't have to grow up alone with the Dursleys?

This may be a very bold statement, but if just her constant presence in his life was enough to make such a difference in his mental and social development, then she'd gladly die again. It'd be worth it.

Shaking herself off her thoughts, she finished putting on her uniform before opening the door to their compartment. "You can come back in," she told the boys. Sitting down again, she was very conscious about keeping her legs closed, now that she actually, _really_ was wearing a skirt. It was _bloody comfortable_ but entirely foreign and she was very aware of how warm her cheeks felt. At least she was certain that she would get used to wearing skirts fairly quickly, considering she would have to wear them throughout most of a day, five days a week.

They arrived at Hogsmeade Station a few minutes later, the excitement of their fellow first-years exiting the _Hogwarts Express_ infectious. Rose couldn't stop herself from grinning when she heard Hagrid call for the first years.

However, that grin made way for a startled yelp, once Harry took hold of her hand and proceeded to drag her towards the waiting half-giant, quickly finding a boat for them to get into.

And as soon as they got their first glimpse of the castle while sitting in their boats, as they were transported past the perfectly still lake, Rose felt that sense of coming home, of returning to a place of comfort and belonging.

It didn't take them much longer to arrive at Hogwarts' grounds and for Hagrid to usher them towards the castle and inside. She didn't pay much attention to what happened while they were waiting at the entrance to the Great Hall, only listening with half an ear to Ron talking about what Fred and George told him the sorting would be like, or Hermione reciting every spell she memorized. She saw Harry toying with his wand – the same holly and phoenix feather she had in her old life – in his robe's pocket and had to smile to herself before realizing she was doing the same with hers: holly and unicorn hair and it felt just as familiar as her wand from her past life did.

The sudden screams of her peers, upon seeing the house's ghosts, made her jump and she had to stop herself from outright cursing at them while clutching her chest to calm her frantic heart. However, the reason for its frantic beating changed from the jump-scare to nervousness when Professor McGonagall called them inside and told them to wait in an orderly line. Would her house change? Would Harry get sorted to Gryffindor again? She was unbelievably nervous, even more so than when she was about to get sorted in her past life.

The sorting hat sang its song, but Rose wasn't hearing a word, its voice drowned by the loud thumping in her chest.

She watched on as the first of her year-mates were sorted, the houses cheering for every new student they got. The line got shorter with every sorting and soon, only a few were left.

"Potter, Harry." The whispers and stares immediately took over everything and Rose, without thinking, pulled him into a hug.

"Good luck," she whispered and he smiled back at her in gratitude, looking more assured amidst the suffocating attention he was experiencing as he walked to the stool with the hat on it.

Seconds ticked by and soon it turned into minutes. Her twin's sorting seemed to go on and on and did it take that long for her in her past life to get sorted?

Worrying her bottom lip, she wondered how much longer it would take bef-

" _GRYFFINDOR_!"

The lions were roaring in jubilation and a mixture of happiness and pity was settling into her stomach while she watched her brother grin uncomfortably, as he was sitting down.

"Potter, Rose."

That feeling changed to anxiety immediately when she walked towards the hat on shaky legs; the attention she received was, while still considerable, in comparison to Harry really nonexistent. She felt bad for feeling glad that it was so.

Rose picked up the hat before sitting on the stool and putting it on her head. It was too big for her and ended up covering half her face.

" _Another Potter_ , _I see_ ," the hat spoke in her head, humming thoughtfully. " _You are not much different from your brother_ , _but I do sense something that does set you apart from him_. _Where to put you_ , _where to put you_?"

" _Just not Slytherin_. _I doubt I'd be happy there_."

" _You thirst for loyalty_ , _for kinship and togetherness_ , _no_?"

" _I guess_ ," Rose thought, worrying her bottom lip in the process.

" _You could find it together with your brother in Gryffindor_ ," the hat offered. " _You could also find it with the badgers in Hufflepuff._ "

" _I don't know. Wherever you think I can help Harry the most is where I will go._ "

" _Admirable_ , _very much so_! _Then_ _I do believe the right place for you to grow will be HUFFLEPUFF_!"

The hat was taken off her head, her uniform changing in places to the badger's yellow and black. She glanced at Harry, who seemed disappointed yet happy as he was applauding with the rest of the students. Walking towards the Hufflepuff table felt a lot easier than walking towards the stool with the hat had been. She felt lighter – as if a weight had been lifted off of her.

This was right. This felt right.

She went on towards the table of her new house and, after fumbling a bit with her skirt, sat down next to a redheaded girl, whom she remembered to be Susan Bones, the niece of the head of the DMLE. In her past life she hadn't known the girl all that well; a few friendly chats and a bit of small talk here and there during DADA meetings but beyond that, there hadn't been much of a friendship between them.

Rose gave the girl a smile in greeting, which was shyly returned before they watched the rest of the sorting until its end.

Dumbledore then had the feast begin with his series of unrelated and silly words and the students eagerly filled their plates with all sorts of delicious dishes.

Some of the first-years were already eagerly chatting with each other. As Rose ate and looked around the table, she recognized quite a few faces. Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott. The others of her year she would eventually get to know, like the girls Megan Jones, Lily Moon and Sally-Anne Perks.

"You are Harry Potter's sister, right?" Megan asked, a girl with black hair and brown eyes. "My mum told me about everything that had to do with magic and she told me about you and your brother and you-know-who."

Rose sighed inwardly because she really didn't want to deal with this early fascination regarding Harry and her and their family's tragedy. "I'm his twin, yeah," she answered and without thinking, she continued. "Please don't stare or whisper when you see him, it really makes him – and me – uncomfortable." She knew she could have spoken out about that during her past life but Gryffindors...bless their hearts, but Gryffindors were brash and loud and would have probably just ignored her. Hufflepuffs, however, they were known for their kindness, patience and loyalty. They were the quiet bunch, the ones who really stuck together and watched out for their own. Maybe it would work.

"I'll make sure our house respects that," a voice a bit further down the table spoke up. Looking at the direction the voice was coming from, Rose was greeted by the sight of a blonde, older boy leaning slightly forward so he could look at her. "Gabriel Truman, prefect," he announced proudly. "We don't want our firsties to be uncomfortable, so I'll tell the other prefects and our head-boy and -girl to make sure there's no pointing and whispering. Everyone knows the story anyway, so there's really no point to all that gawking."

"Thanks," Rose replied, feeling satisfied. Reprieve for her from questions about Harry and reprieve for Harry from pointing fingers, way too loud whispers and shameless stares. Even if it was just one house, it was a lot more than she had when _she_ was Harry. Her twin was definitely enviable there.

The rest of the feast was surprisingly pleasant and Hufflepuff house did exude a warmth and familial atmosphere which was inherently different from Gryffindor. She enjoyed being a lion, there was no doubt about that; she simply was surprised at how well and how easily she was taking to this new experience. There was no longing for the red and gold banners as she would have expected. Instead, there was an eagerness to experience her new home.

A second helping of treacle tart later, the feast was over and after Dumbledore read the school rules and warned the students of the third-floor corridor and the Forbidden Forest, Gabriel Truman called for the first years and officially welcomed them together with the other fifth-year prefect Maxine O'Flaherty.

Rose was curious to see the Hufflepuff common room. She had heard a lot about it but never knew exactly where it was, let alone what it looked like.

They were led towards the kitchen corridor and the entrance was just there, in a nook on the right-hand side of it, hidden behind a stack of barrels.

"Now, pay attention," Maxine, a rather short brunette with chin-length hair and grey eyes, said. "We have no password for our common room. Instead, we do this- watch closely!" She then proceeded to tap the second barrel from the bottom, middle of the second row with her wand in a certain rhythm. Then, the lid to the entrance slid open, revealing a round passageway that they would have to crawl through. "The rhythm you have to tap the barrel with is 'Hel–ga Huff-le-puff. Remember that! Because if you get the rhythm wrong or tap the wrong barrel, you'll get showered in vinegar. Gabs here can confirm that it is rather unpleasant."

That did elicit a few giggles as Gabriel gave Maxine a _very_ unimpressed look. "Let's just get inside," the blonde said with a sigh, leading them through the passageway into the Hufflepuff basement.

Luckily, it wasn't very long and mere moments later they arrived in their new home for the coming seven years. It was round, earthy, sunny and just oozed a welcoming atmosphere and cosiness. The circular windows had to be enchanted since they provided a vista of flowery meadows and dandelions. A portrait of what had to be Helga Hufflepuff was hanging on a wall, below which there was a wooden, honey-coloured mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it. Countless potted plants were hanging from the ceiling or resting on the windowsills, some of which were dancing or even talking. Rose also spotted a lot of circular doors spread throughout the common room, which probably would lead to the various dormitories.

" _Wow_ ," she whispered. She couldn't help herself.

"Yep," Gabriel said rather proudly. "Our common room has _got_ to be the best."

"It's brilliant," Ernie agreed, wide-eyed and grinning.

"Now, before we show you your dormitories, there are a few things you should know about our house," Maxine spoke up, gaining the attention of all of them effortlessly. "Hufflepuff prides itself in fair play, loyalty and hard work. We are patient and we are dedicated. All of us Puffs expect all of you firsties to do us proud. Be fair to your house-mates and fellow students. Be loyal to your house, your fellow Puffs and what we stand for. Always work hard. Be patient with others and yourselves. Be dedicated to whatever you do. Do all of that and you will gain a second family in this house and friends for a lifetime."

"That was quite the speech, Max," Gabriel said, looking impressed.

"Thanks! I've worked all summer on it once I got the badge."

Rose had to stop herself from chuckling at that. _Such_ a Percy thing to do.

"Now, let's show you your dorm-rooms," Maxine announced with a clap of her hands. "You will all share one together but don't worry, there's more than enough space. Girls with me, the boys with Gabs."

She and the other girls followed Maxine, who stopped in front of one of the perfectly circular doors at the far end of the common room, slightly to the left. "Just follow the tunnel until you reach your dorm-room. The house-elves will have brought your luggage in and put in front of your beds, with everything unpacked and put in your wardrobes. So, goodnight and welcome to Hogwarts!"

They all thanked the prefect and entered through the door, the tunnel leading them farther into the back and below the Hogwarts grounds. Before long, they were standing in their circular dorm-room. The badgers really were into circles.

"My aunt told me about the common room and everything but all of this is even better!" Susan gushed, hopping onto her bed.

"I'm too excited to sleep," Sally-Anne added as she, too, was heading towards her bed to sit down.

Rose followed suit, sitting on her own bed and just letting it all sink in.

She attended Hogwarts for five years, once upon a lifetime, which felt so, _so_ far away considering she entered this life not even two months ago. And yet...and _yet_ she felt like a first-year, soaking everything in like a sponge as if she was experiencing it for the first time. Granted, a lot of things were new: a new life, a new self, a new house, a new common room, new dorm-mates. It was a mixture of things she already knew and was aware of and could probably handle rather easily and of new things, new experiences, _new everything_.

Everything about Hufflepuff was screaming comfort and it was just so easy to fall into it and take it in with every fibre of her being. The four-poster beds covered in patchwork quilts, the copper lamps providing a warm, soft glow, the readily provided bed-warmers hanging on the walls.

She felt right at home.


	5. The First Day

Waking up for her first day of class the day after the sorting ceremony, since September 1st was a weekday, Rose felt refreshed and ready. Since she was up early, she got to use the bathroom first and after a shower and her morning routine, she was dressed and her hair was brushed. Being the Dursley's slave for so long had forced her inner clock to ring very early. After all, if breakfast wasn't ready in time there was hell to pay.

Self-preservation at its finest.

Those weren't thoughts she wanted to dwell on though, so she just headed out of the dorm-room with all of her books, a stack of parchment, an ink bottle and a quill in her charmed school satchel slung over her shoulder.

When she exited the tunnel towards the common room, she had to stop for a moment again. It wasn't like the Gryffindor tower was uncomfortable or anything because it _was_ comfortable, very much so, but the badgers' basement was an experience on a whole different level. Even the air smelled fresh and crisp, like a cool spring morning after it rained the night before. She couldn't help the smile on her face, she couldn't help but feel like a first-year who was excited about her very own Hogwarts adventure.

 _Technically_ she _was_ a first-year, but also, _technically_ , _mentally_ , she was a fifteen-year-old boy whose fate was tied to a genocidal Dark Wizard with illusions of grandeur. But who said she couldn't enjoy this new chance? Who said she had to stop living because of that fate?

In her past life, as Harry Potter, she made that mistake. She forgot to live too often, she forgot to be a teenager and she obsessed over things she wasn't ready for. Granted, those things kind of always fell into her lap in one way or another, but _maybe_ she could have handled them differently. In case Harry turned out to be as obsessive over such things the way she was, she vowed to reign him in.

Surviving on nothing but pure luck was not a gamble she was willing to take again. She had foreknowledge and she would do her best to use it as efficiently as possible to give _this_ Harry and herself the chance to live and grow.

With new resolve and a firm nod to herself, she was on her way outside when another tunnel-door swung open; the one leading to the first-year boys' dorm-room. Out stepped a loudly yawning Ernie Macmillan and he looked just as she remembered him: a stout boy with blonde hair. She liked him well enough, back in her old life. He was quick to jump to assumptions, like so many others, _but_ – and that set him apart from the vast majority of the school's student populace – he was just as quick to admit when he was wrong. His public apology during their second year, after Hermione got petrified, made it easy for her to be more forgiving to him than others who weren't her closest friends.

"Good morning," he greeted her with a tired smile. "Rose Potter, right?"

"Right," Rose nodded, smiling in return.

"Ernest Macmillan, but you may call me Ernie," he said, shaking her hand. "This common room is something else, isn't it? My grandmother was a Hufflepuff and she told me quite a bit, but her stories don't do this justice."

They exited the common room through the pathway into the kitchen corridor, Ernie chatting away all the while, walking in deliberate steps with his chest puffed out.

Yep, he was proud and pompous, but never as ridiculously as Percy. Ernie managed to pull it off in a way...kind of...sort of.

They were among the first few students, as was her twin, whom she spotted by himself at the Gryffindor table.

"I'll be right back. Just want to chat with my brother real quick," she told Ernie, who nodded in return.

"Of course, understandable."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she headed over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Harry, who, startled at first, broke out into a happy grin upon seeing her.

"Hey," he greeted her with a hug.

"Hey yourself. Are you happy in Gryffindor? How do you like it?"

"It's great!" He answered enthusiastically. "I mean, I could do without the... _you_ _know_ ," he shrugged and she _knew_ exactly what he meant. "But they are all nice and the common room is great! How's yours? I just wished you'd be there too," he finished, looking a bit sad.

Rose smiled at that. "Nothing we can do now," she said with a sigh and a shrug. "And our common room's amazing! And promise me you'll make lots of friends, okay?"

"Sure."

Rose squinted her eyes at him. "I mean it! Don't just settle for that one boy from the train. Ron, was it?" She knew of course, but a little bit of acting did go a long way.

"Yeah. He's great!"

"I'm sure he is, Harry," Rose continued, "but there are other people too. Just promise me you try, okay? Like that bushy-haired girl or your dorm-mates."

"Okay, okay," he finally relented with a chuckle. "If it's so important to you."

"It is. We had no one but each other for our whole lives, but now we have a chance to just be... _us_ with other kids without having to be afraid that Dudley's going to beat them up or chase them away because they talked to us."

"I know," he smiled at her.

Nodding in satisfaction, she got up from her chair. "Good. I'll see you at dinner again, okay?"

"Okay," he said, getting up for a parting hug. "Have fun!"

"You too." She then returned back to the Hufflepuff table, glad to have decided to talk to Harry. Even when he was more sociable than her, he still seemed to be too quickly satisfied with that one friend in Ron. The youngest Weasley brother could, of course, remain Harry's closest and best friend, but that didn't mean it had to end there. She missed out on too much in her past life, on _way_ too much. It wasn't an easy life, no doubt about that. People were too fickle, too quick to turn away in a moment's notice, too quick to point fingers. But they could deal with that now, together. She could talk with the Puffs, clarify things, stand up for Harry and explain everything. In her old life, she didn't have that luxury. It was her, Ron and Hermione against the school. Sometimes it was her and Hermione. Sometimes it was just her.

She'd make sure _this_ Harry wouldn't have to go through the same trials she had to, in every single year. They had a destiny to fulfil, a fate to face, but it wasn't a full-time job.

She took her seat next to Ernie again and started to fill her plate with tomatoes, bacon, sausages, eggs and mushrooms, eagerly digging in. Hogwarts' elves were true wizards in the kitchen – no pun intended.

"So, how's your brother doing? You two seem close, if you don't mind me saying, and it must be hard to be in separate houses now," Ernie asked before taking a sip from his tea.

Trying her best to be proper, she first swallowed her bite before answering. Pulling a Ron in the body of a sweet girl would be questionable. "He seems to like it there," she answered while cutting up a sausage. "He doesn't like the attention, but he likes the house and the other Gryffindors, so it probably isn't too bad."

"Understandable," Ernie agreed with a serious expression, which turned into a welcoming smile upon seeing a host of their fellow first-years entering the Great Hall. After waving them over, he turned his attention back to her. "I've grown up with all these stories myself, but after yesterday evening, when the prefect pointed out how ridiculous all the attention you two are getting actually is, it did get me thinking and I want to apologize for that."

Rose blinked at him. He was definitely the Ernest Macmillan she knew; unbelievably honest, unbelievably fair, a strong sense of right and wrong, all too willing to own up to even the smallest mistakes, even if they were non-issues.

"Thanks," she replied, "but it's okay. Honestly." Not knowing what else to say, she opted to continue her breakfast, leaving the rest to their chatter, Ernie seemingly happy enough with her acceptance of his apology.

The rest of the students soon joined the early-birds of the school's populace, taking their seats among their house-mates.

Professor Sprout then walked up to their table and wished the first-years good luck, before putting stacks of parchment, which very likely were the timetables, at the end of their house's table. A pale boy named Oliver Rivers – tall for his age with dark brown hair and brown eyes – was kind enough to get their timetables for all of them.

Thanking him, after he handed her hers, she looked it over and just barely stopped herself from groaning out loud. Tuesday, first class: double potions. At least it was with the Ravenclaw's and not the Slytherins.

* * *

Breakfast was over sooner than she would have liked and the Hufflepuff firsties were on their way to the dungeons, led there by a sixth-year Puff prefect who had a free period. She'd never experienced that during her five years in her previous life.

"My aunt said potions is like cooking, just a bit more complicated," Susan told them in the hopes of calming down those with muggle backgrounds, who were showing obvious signs of nerves at the prospect of having their first magical class.

Justin, however, blanched at that description of potions. "After I tried to help my mum cooking once, she banned me from the kitchen!"

Rose had to giggle at that – she got used to _that_ sound at least, since her return to life. "What did you do?" She honestly was curious about that.

Her relationship with Justin was pretty neutral in her past life, so this might be a chance to get to know him as an actual person and year-mate.

"I tried to make waffles and managed to ruin the waffle iron…"

She just nodded in response, pointedly looking away and not asking him just _how exactly_ he managed that, the light laughter from the others more than enough to make Justin blush. At least he smiled in a self-deprecating manner instead of taking actual offence. Going into potions class with a bad mood and lack of confidence was suicide after all.

The door to the potions classroom opened then, Snape pulling off his perfect bat-imitation as effortlessly as she remembered. The Claws and Puffs separated neatly between the left-hand side and right-hand side of the classroom, with Rose finding a seat next to the shy Lily Moon, who hadn't spoken much as of yet. Well, they would be potions partners' from now on.

After everyone was seated, she was surprised to hear Snape recite his scary potions-speech word-for-word and was dangerously close to snorting at how apparently Snape had it memorized. There was no other explanation for him to use this exact same speech in two different classes.

But she was even more surprised that Snape did not decide to bully her with N.E.W.T.- and O.W.L.-level questions this time around. Instead, with a flick of his wand, he just charmed the recipe for the Cure of Boils potion onto the blackboard.

"Follow the recipe to the letter, unless you wish for a disaster to occur." His drawl made her skin crawl. She really, _really_ disliked this man.

Deciding to ignore him as much as she could, she turned to her partner. "Your cauldron or mine?"

"Doesn't matter," Lily said with a shrug, her voice so soft that Rose almost missed it.

Deciding that she would have to take charge – in potions no less! – Rose distributed the first tasks between them. "Okay then, I'll get the equipment and you the ingredients."

Lily nodded and scribbled down on a parchment what they needed – she seemed unfamiliar to writing with a quill, so Rose thought that she might be muggle-born – while Rose went to get their needed equipment from the storage room where they were put by the house-elves, all labelled in shelves marked with the year and names of the students.

She picked up her equipment, putting what she could into the cauldron, and carried it over to her seat. It definitely was harder than when she was a boy though, in this skinny – though she looked healthier since staying at the Leaky Cauldron – and small body.

Lily and she then started to get to work, efficiently communicating with each other and working off each other.

The potion itself was very easy and she _knew_ she was good at this class even in her past life. Snape's petty disdain of her because of his past with her father simply ruined what could have been a fun class; it possibly could have even one of her favourites. It just proved that the quality of a class was solely dependent on a teacher and the teacher's relationship with the students. He could be as much of a prodigy as he wanted, but if he sucked at teaching then the class was guaranteed to be a failure.

The two hours flew by and the end result of their potion was, if Rose may say so herself, very good. After labelling their phials and filling them with their finished potion, they handed it to the Professor, who just continued to ignore her. He didn't even so much as look at her.

She didn't mind; in fact, this was so much better than anything she could have hoped for.

* * *

"Snape hates me."

Rose had to snort at Harry's complaints. Yeah, she was aware of Snape's hatred of black and messy-haired _Harry_. She just wasn't aware that his hatred was _this_ petty and _this_ shallow that the mere similarity of looks between a father and son was enough for him to bully said son while the daughter, who looked nothing like the father, was simply ignored.

"Just keep your head down and work hard," Rose offered as advice, sitting at the Gryffindor table next to her twin, gaining a couple of curious looks which went away as quickly as they came.

"Wasn't he a git to _you_?" Harry asked and she almost, _almost_ wanted to say ' _you have no idea_ ', but that was from a life, from a reality, which no longer existed.

"He didn't speak to me at all. I think he even ignored me."

Harry looked at her in envy. "Really?"

"Yep. It was great, me and Lily-"

"' _Lily and I_ '," a muttered voice from the other side of the table corrected her, causing Rose to look at the bushy-haired witch in amusement.

"You are from the train, right?" Rose asked while looking forward to her acting career. She was _good_ at this.

"Sorry," Hermione said while blushing. "I can't help it sometimes and yes, we met in the _Hogwarts Express._ I'm Hermione Granger."

"Rose, Harry's twin," she said while pointing at said twin with a thumb. "And no harm done. Anyway," she continued while turning her attention back to Harry, " _Lily and I_ could just concentrate on our potion and I think we did pretty well. You did the Cure of Boils too, right?"

"Yeah…"

"It was pretty easy, so you shouldn't have done too badly."

"I don't like potions," Harry moaned in despair, cradling his head in his hands.

"Again, just keep your head down, concentrate on your potion and ignore anything else that's going on."

Her twin just muttered in annoyance. "Easy for you to say. He didn't pick you as his enemy."

She couldn't deny that one. "True. Well, dinner is waiting for me and Lily saved me a spot, so I'm off."

"Yeah, bye. See you tomorrow."

"Shee a!" Ron added with half-chewed chicken still stuffed in his cheeks, eliciting a disgusted look from Hermione.

Rose couldn't blame her. It really wasn't a particularly appetizing sight.

She then returned to the Hufflepuff table, her satchel placed on the chair between Lily and Megan. Rose took her seat there, after placing her bag under her chair, and put a healthy helping of beef wellington and mashed potatoes with mixed veggies on her plate.

"...so interesting! I really am happy here, never thought there could be so much to magic!" Justin gushed, his nerves from before potions class all but vanished.

"Which class did you like most?" Hannah asked, all pink face and blonde pigtails. Rose remembered her as a nice, well-liked and soft-spoken girl, even though she didn't shy away from proudly wearing ' _Potter Stinks_!'-buttons. But then, so did pretty much everyone who wasn't a Gryffindor.

"Charms, I think. It was very interesting! Making things float or disappear…"

"What about you, Rose?" Susan asked, trying to include her in the conversation.

A bit startled and about to just talk with her mouth still full, Rose stopped herself to chew and swallow quickly before answering. "I agree with Justin. Charms class is the most fun so far. But potions wasn't so bad either."

Roger Malone, a dark-skinned muggle-born with short, dark hair and brown eyes, agreed with her. "I honestly thought potions would be worse, what with all the horror stories about Professor Snape…"

"Maybe they were exaggerating?" Ernie wondered.

Susan looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's because we are Hufflepuffs?"

"What do you mean?" Sally-Anne asked in obvious confusion.

"I've heard that Snape really hates Gryffindors and does all he can to take points away from them," Susan explained. "If that's true then I really feel bad for your brother," she added with a slight wince directed at Rose, who just chuckled.

"Harry already called Snape a git and said that, apparently, he can't really stand Harry."

"Ouch," was Megan's contribution and it was enough.

Thinking about all the troubles she had with the potions Professor, Rose couldn't help but, for the first time since she came back to life, be _really_ glad that she wasn't Harry anymore. She couldn't even bring herself to feel guilty about it.


	6. Weekend And Brooms

Her first Hogwarts weekend as a second-time first-year did finally arrive. Granted, the 'finally'-part was a bit exaggerated considering that the past week was rather pleasant.

Since this body was still growing and had not even reached puberty yet, her magic was still rather weak, which did not mean that she was unable to cast the spells she was asked to cast in classes like charms and transfiguration. She had them all memorized and saw no reason to downplay her abilities in that regard, so she cast the spells and charms – the easiest ones at least – successfully after the first try. Still, two or three or four times she _did_ play the part of a student who needed a bit of help here and there.

Potions class was surprisingly a breeze. If left to her devices, she was rather proficient in that class and even almost had fun there.

Astrology was still a pain because it was in the middle of the night, DADA was, under Quirrel, as much of a joke in this life as it was in her past life, but then again, having Voldemort's face glued to the back of your head tended to do things to you, like making you stutter nonstop.

But the one big surprise was Herbology. Rose never particularly liked it. She didn't enjoy it. Tending to Petunia's garden was always a pain but gardening in Hogwarts? No bloody way in hell. At least that was how it was as _Harry Potter_.

But now, as eleven-year-old Rose Potter in an entirely new reality she... _loved_ it? It was so odd but she just _took_ to it. Like a fish to water or a bird to the sky.

She _really_ took to Herbology. It couldn't come from her Harry-Potter-self, there was no doubt. It _had_ to be something inherently Rose. Maybe her Rose-self had a green thumb? Maybe it was a gift her mother passed on to her? It was really weird, but she really enjoyed that class and Professor Sprout couldn't have looked prouder if she had tried, after watching her tend to the _Valerian_ plant.

Rose wasn't complaining, though. This was actually something good because it meant she had at least one class that would be like a complete reset for her. Starting from zero, basically. It was good and it was fun.

And now here she was with her fellow first-years in the library, working on their herbology essay, which was the last of their homework, together and Rose _was actually_ _contributing_. An unfamiliar feeling – a sense of accomplishment – settled itself firmly in her chest. Was it not always just her past Harry-self, Ron and Hermione with her Harry-self and Ron bugging Hermione to let them copy their homework? And when she wouldn't let them, wouldn't she and Ron always bug Hermione to read over their homework, which then would usually result in her doing the most work?

She couldn't tell if that particular change in her attitude when it came to her academics, was from _Harry_ or _Rose._ Sometimes it really was difficult to distinguish between these two parts of her, especially since she was getting used to this body more and more with every day. There were still scary things to come for it, but those would be future Rose's problems. No need for present Rose to worry about things which were still a ways away.

Whether it was her Harry-self applying himself for once to his studies or her Rose-self's natural attitude, she was almost done with her essay and feeling pretty good about herself in the process.

Another couple of sentences and a proofreading later, she was officially done and had no work left for the weekend. She stretched against her chair and sighed happily. Going to Hogwarts was always great, in her past life as well as this life, but _this_ life just provided her with a sense of contentment her past life did not.

"You finished already?" Oliver asked, his eyes slightly widened. "I'm not even halfway through!"

"Yep. I'm ready for the weekend," Rose said with a grin as she started to pack up her things and carefully rolled up and bound her homework before stowing it into her satchel. "If you need help I can stay."

"Thanks, but it's okay. I'm just _really_ slow at writing with a bloody quill." Oliver sighed while glaring at the offending writing utensil.

Rose nodded in understanding. "It takes some getting used to."

"Aren't you a half-blood, though?" Megan asked, her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah, but me an-...I mean, _Harry and I_ , we grew up with muggles...our aunt's family, from our mum's side."

"Didn't she still know about magic?" Hannah kept pressing and Rose briefly wondered when this became a questioning about Harry's and her background.

"Let's just say they don't like magic. They didn't tell us anything and we only learned about everything magic when we got our Hogwarts letters and McGonagall explained magic and Hogwarts to us."

Sally-Anne gave her a sympathetic look. "That does sound terrible."

"It's alright. We ended up spending more than a month in the Leaky Cauldron and prepared ourselves," Rose replied with a small smile. "I had to force Harry's lazy bum into it a bit, but he listened to me."

"Should've done the same," Oliver muttered angrily, his writing slow and, even more so, scratchy.

Her's, on the other hand, was neat and flowing and she had to wonder if that came from Rose's muscle memory or something like that. Remembering the chicken scratch that was her writing in her past life when she was Harry made her cringe.

"So, no one needs any help?" She asked the group and when there were just a few _no, thank you_ ' _s_ and _thanks_ ' she shrugged and shouldered her bag. "I'll leave you to it then. See you later."

She headed out of the library and was on her way to her common room when she encountered her brother, Ron and surprisingly Hermione. "Hey there," she greeted the four of them.

"Hey, Rosie," Harry returned the greeting with a hug. "Were you in the library?"

"Yep," she answered, retracting herself from her twin's affections. "Just finished the herbology essay and I'm completely free for the weekend. I hope you plan on doing the same," Rose said pointedly, an eyebrow raised at Harry.

"Bloody girls…" Ron muttered and Hermione and Rose openly gaped at him.

She had officially reached a milestone in this body: for the first time since she was resurrected as Rose, she felt offended. _As a girl_!

She glared at her best friend from her former life and briefly wondered if he was like that back then. "Excuse me?"

"I-I didn't mean it like girls are bad or something! Just...why do you have to be so studious?" he asked, his voice bordering on whiny, probably because Hermione was dragging him and her twin to the library to work on their homework.

But she honestly couldn't answer his question. First of all, because lazy girls existed, even if he didn't seem to think so. Secondly, because she had no idea were her sudden studiousness was coming from. In the Leaky Cauldron, she did vow to work harder than in her past life, but the level at which she applied herself was still surprising. She did think about it a bit more, after leaving the library, and if she would have to take a guess, then she would say that it was her subconscious as Rose acting. _Maybe_ the Rose part, the part that lived for 10 years as just _Rose Potter_ and not _Harry Potter_ in Rose's body, was gaining a subconscious kind of influence the more comfortable she was getting in this life and this body. She didn't particularly mind, though. Herbology was suddenly fun, her handwriting pretty and she was hard-working. It also was like a small adventure; finding out what else this body had to offer, what other…'skills'...she could…'unlock', so to speak. It was an exciting prospect to look forward to. She still clearly remembered herself as the Harry from an erased reality, though, so that was good. Losing that self and the memories would make guiding and helping Harry and all her other tasks and plans _a lot_ harder

Her hands on her hips, she kept glaring at Ron. "I have a whole, free weekend, Ron. The sooner you finish your work, the more free time you have on weekends. Or do you want to spend half of your Sunday in the library?"

"No…"

"Thank you!" Hermione gushed at her. "I've spent the past hour telling them exactly that!"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts, Harry!" Rose silenced him with a raised finger. "Do your homework now, so you can actually enjoy your _whole_ weekend and not just half of it."

" _Fine_ ," he said and motioned for his two friends – and that thought made her heart hurt, just a bit still, because they _were_ _hers_ once in a past life – to head towards the library, grumbling all the while and somewhere, in the middle of it, she heard a barely audible _bloody girls_ from her twin.

"Hey! I heard that!" She glared at his quickly retreating form.

She then resumed her walk to her common room, muttering angrily, and _somewhere_ , _in the middle of it_ , a ' _bloody boys_ ' escaped her, making her stop in her tracks, her green eyes wide open in surprise.

 _Did I really just say that_? _Nah_ …

And with that bit of self-denial, she continued walking towards the common room once more, ready for her well-deserved R and R.

* * *

The Claws and Puffs had their optional flying lesson early on Saturday. Rose was eager to see if she still was as talented a flyer as she was in her past life, so she headed to the Hogwarts Grounds with her fellow first-year badgers. From the girls, only Sally-Anne and Megan joined her, with Susan, Hannah and Lily having no interest in flying brooms. The boys, however, were all there. They soon found the brooms lined up neatly on the ground with still a few minutes before the lesson was due to start.

"I wonder if any of us will end up in the Quidditch team," Ernie wondered.

"I was told how my dad was a very talented chaser," Rose said, trying not to laugh when those, who were not without previous Quidditch knowledge, all turned to listen to her. "I hope I've got his talent there."

"You want to be a chaser?" Wayne Hopkins asked, a pure-blood with strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes.

"Not sure how good of a chaser I would make, but when I've read about Quidditch, it said that seekers should be smaller," Rose answered with a casual shrug. "I _am_ small."

"Might be hard since the seeker position is already taken, but who knows," Ernie said. "There's always tryouts next year and from what I know, Hufflepuff usually ended up in the bottom two a lot of times, rarely placed second and hasn't been first in over fifteen years."

"Yeah, makes sense that the roster would change a lot after results like that," Justin joined in on the conversation. "It's the same with football; you know, the muggle sports? When a team places poorly after the season is over they change a lot in the rooster, especially in key positions."

"Let's see if I can fly at all, first," Rose said, stopping the conversation when she spotted Madam Hooch approaching the group of students.

The lesson itself went as she remembered – without the whole Malfoy incident – and, to her relief, she was still an avid flyer. The broom effortlessly landed in her hand when called _up_ , she could effortlessly make it hover and she flew as if nothing changed at all. Since there was no reason for her to get the same special treatment she got when she used to be Harry in the other life, she would have to wait until second year to play Quidditch, but she would definitely and without a doubt go to the tryouts. If she remembered correctly, the Hufflepuff team performed rather poorly most of the time, so there was a good chance that this year's seeker would be replaced next year.

They were on their way back to the castle and passed by the group of Gryffindors and Slytherins, waving at her brother once she spotted him. Malfoy scoffed at that, but she just ignored him and headed to the common room, so she could change out of the school uniform they were required to wear even for the broom flying lesson.

Sitting on a broom with a skirt really was an experience she never thought she'd have.

The group chatted among themselves, Rose contributing to the conversation here and there, and it really was just a nice and relaxed atmosphere.

She loved Ron and Hermione, she really did. They were her very first friends, the very first people she bonded with. The three of them had been the golden trio together.

But... _but_ it was also unbelievably stressful. Constant bickering, constant plotting, constant life-and-death situations, constant uncovering of intrigue and whatnot. It was one adventure after the other and they rarely had the time to just be what they actually were: first children, then teens. It was what made what they had special, of course. But special was not always good. Special was not always healthy.

But these badgers, they gave her a completely different sense of belonging and she cherished that dearly. With them, she felt like she could just _be_ and truly experience all the things she missed...aside from being a teenage boy that is.

But then again, the one teenage-boy-experience she ever had was that of a kiss filled with spit and tears and she wished she had asked Hermione to obliviate that out of her mind.

Still, this group of Hufflepuffs...the _house_ Hufflepuff gave her a chance to just _be_ , and _actually_ experience being a prepubescent and, hopefully, later a pubescent... _person_ , without all the near-suicidal aspects of being Harry Potter.

This second chance at living...it was great so far. She had to admit that much.

She wouldn't have minded coming back as a boy but, well, she never was good with luck, as Death's dice roll showed once again.

She was getting used to it, though. Not seeing a penis and ballsack when showering wasn't surprising anymore, wiping herself down there with toilet paper after peeing wasn't scary anymore – yes, she got used to having a vagina – caring for her hair with different products was second nature by now, brushing her hair was as routine as breathing.

She had the basic aspects of being a girl down by now. The very basic aspects. The very, _very_ basic aspects.

But there was more to come, like growing breasts, getting her period, shaving her body in places she didn't care about as a boy.

And sharing space with five other girls brought a whole different challenge, like talking about boys – which hadn't started yet, thankfully – and when they would get older _even more_ things would change. They would try make-up, play around with hair-styles, go shopping together and so many more things she probably wasn't even aware of! And she would not be the honest Hufflepuff she wanted to be if she said, that there wasn't a teeny, tiny part of her which was just a teeny, tiny bit curious.

But still, being a boy was so, _so_ much easier.

Future Rose certainly would have her hands full. Unlucky girl, that one.

Present Rose had it easier. She just went to her dorm-room, changed into a pair of comfortable jeans and a thin pullover and sat down at a table to play _Exploding Snap_ and chat about all sorts of things.

Present Rose was living the good life.

* * *

Later during dinner, when she took a moment to chat with him, which sort of became a 'tradition' – after only five days – Harry excitedly told her of the news about him becoming the new Gryffindor seeker, confirming that the events during the Gryffindor/Slytherin flying lesson played out as they did in her past life.

After congratulating him and telling him how happy _for_ him and how proud _of_ him she was – and she was glad she did so, considering how happy Harry looked after hearing her say these things and considering how _she_ had, for the longest time, no one tell her such things – she got up and left for the Hufflepuff table.

The moment she sat down though, whispers erupted around the hall when Malfoy went over to the Gryffindor table and talked silently with Harry and only then did she remember the duel proposal and how she was an idiot who accepted it, just like her brother very likely would.

After quickly finishing her meal she went back to _her_ Harry and sat down on the empty chair next to him.

"What did Malfoy want?"

"He proposed a duel at midnight and your idiot brother accepted it!" Hermione explained quickly before either of the boys could stop her. They gave the bushy-haired witch betrayed looks in return.

"You _what_?" Rose hissed and tried her best to sound as disappointed, angry and surprised as it would have been appropriate in this situation. She was confident enough in her acting abilities, so she wasn't really worried. Still, this whole memories- and foreknowledge-thing was a bit annoying at times.

"I couldn't say no!" Harry defended himself and yeah, she understood where he was coming from – _been there, done that_ – but now? Now it just seemed ridiculous and utterly stupid.

"And why couldn't you?"

"It's dishonourable," Ron explained sagely.

"But it's honourable to blind each other with _lumos_ in the middle of the night or throw transfigured needles at each other? Because _we don_ ' _t even know any spells_."

Ron and Harry were about to counter but closed their mouths again since they came up with nothing.

"Not only that but have you even thought about what might happen if you would get caught?" Hermione added, spurred on by Rose being obviously on her side.

"Well, I can't back down now! I'm a Gryffindor! We are supposed to be brave!"

Rose sighed in exasperation. Had this stubborn doofus really been her, once upon a time? "When did being brave come with being stupid?"

"Hey!" "Oi!"

The two boys were obviously insulted, but that did nothing to deter Rose. Had someone told her in her old life that she would have to play the rational sister for an eleven-year-old Harry in a different reality, she would have called a mind-healer for that person. And yet, here she was. "Harry, please use your head," she pleaded with him. "Malfoy knows that neither of you know any spells yet! He knew you and your stupid pride wouldn't turn him down! It's an obvious setup to get you in trouble!"

Harry frowned and was reverting back into his silent brooding-thing when he would stare at his lap and toy with his hands and the hem of his shirts.

She knew what the _actual_ problem here was. It wasn't his pride – well, okay, it sort of was but it wasn't the only reason – but his insecurity and lack of confidence. She remembered back when she was in his position, how she struggled at first with magic, how out of place she felt at times, despite being among her magical peers. She struggled with simple spells and Malfoy's mocking and Hermione's talent as someone who was muggle-born hit right where it hurt the most: her confidence.

In _that_ life, when she found out she could fly it was an amazing feeling, knowing that she was actually good at something magic, knowing that the Dursleys didn't beat the magic out of her. She couldn't turn down Draco's duel; she had to prove herself.

So she knew exactly what was going on in his head.

Reaching over, she took hold of both of his hands. "What is it, Harry? You know you can tell me."

He sighed and squeezed her hands lightly before indicating with his head towards the Great Hall's exit.

She followed him then and he went behind one of the pillars in the corridor, leaning against it and waiting for her.

Rose leaned against one of the armours, with her arms crossed. "So, what is it?"

"I'm...having trouble with magic and wanted to prove myself…" he muttered, looking at the ground.

Sometimes this whole memory-/foreknowledge-thing _was_ amazing. "Then just practice. What would actually going through with that duel have proven? That you are as gullible as Malfoy thinks you are?"

"I can't even cast _lumos_ without trying a hundred times!"

"Again, Harry: _practice_. How much time have you actually spent practising the spells we've learned so far?" She already knew the answer of course and his silence confirmed it.

 _Of all the things in which he really takes after me, it has to be this_ , Rose thought in annoyance. He was a more sociable Harry than she had been, which was great, but he also was a lazy arse, just like she had been. Only when a spell would help her in some way – like the summoning charm or _expecto patronum_ – did she put effort into studying and practising and repeating.

 _This_ Harry needed an attitude adjustment.

"Then how do you expect to actually cast anything? Did you expect it'd just magically come to you? No pun intended."

"No…"

"Just ask someone to help you or find someone to practice with and you'll get there. In my house, all of us firsties study together, do our homework together and hang out together. Don't you guys too?" She knew, of course, that they didn't. Cliques and groups appeared quickly in Gryffindor, back when _she_ was Harry.

His answer was identical to the one before. "No…"

"Then ask the other firsties to study together. It's fun! And if they don't want to, it's on them." She leaned forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Even if you just end up with four or five in a group instead of your whole year-mates, it'll be worth it. Trust me. You'll really end up profiting from it."

Harry finally looked up to give her a thankful smile. "You're really smart, you know?"

"I try," she grinned back. "But you are too. You just lack confidence and all those," she mock-gasped and put on a shocked face while pointing a finger at her twin's face, "' _oh my God it's Harry Potter look at his face I have never seen one before in my life_ ' don't help I bet."

Harry laughed at that, loudly, and it was an amazing sound. She knew, from her own being-Harry-Potter-experience, that laughing like that was a very, very, _very_ rare occurrence. "Yeah, it's annoying," he said, still giggling and chuckling.

"Then ignore it. Show them that you are just Harry. Study with others from your year, okay? You are not stupid or slow or untalented. You just lack confidence and are a lazy bum."

"Okay. I'll ask Hermione to help me practise. I promise."

"Good. And the others from your year?"

Harry nodded. "I promise."

"And that duel?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I won't go. I promise."

"Good." She then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her brother, tightly pulling him into a hug. She knew he needed this because _she_ needed those when she was _him_. Still, it was one of the things that would need quite some time to get used to; showing physical affection like this to someone she once was, especially since she was remembering being him, was a bizarre experience, like hugging herself in some way.

But she'd get used to it, as she got used to having a vagina.

And _that_ , certainly, had been a shocker.


	7. Halloween

After the first week, life quickly settled into the familiar Hogwarts routine. Rose went from class to class, spent a lot of time in the library researching for her essays and working on them together with her fellow Puff firsties. She used her weekends to bond further with said firsties and any time she found in-between she spent catching up with Harry.

She was really having a good time, was really happy and, between all the classes, homework and activities with her – yes, she would call them _that_ now – _friends_ , there were times when she would _forget_ that she was a girl.

Sometimes, when she was washing up for bed or after waking up and she was looking into the bathroom mirror, she was still half-expecting to see messy, black hair and round glasses. Getting used to this body and forgetting about it in the midst of a busy schedule was not the same as acceptance after all and actual, full acceptance was still a ways away.

Fully accepting that she was a girl, that she was Rose and that she was Harry's twin sister would mean to close the chapter on her old life, which was hard. The memories of _then_ were vivid and constantly active; they weren't a faint noise in the distance which would eventually fade away. They were a consistent presence, which made the acceptance process even harder than it already was.

It would come, _eventually_. She was aware of that and it was a scary thought; to fully shed one identity, a _self_ , and wear another in its stead.

But then again, when she felt that sense of contentment and happiness while hanging out with her new _friends_ , she couldn't help but wonder why she had to die first to find _this_. Rationally, she knew it was a pointless question because it was highly unlikely she'd ever get an answer for it.

She couldn't help it though. Sometimes people just had to wonder about things that'd never be answered.

* * *

Halloween was just around the corner and the castle was getting more and more into the festive mood. With the last day of October being the coming Sunday, which was just two days away, Hogwarts' elves were getting even busier; between keeping the castle clean, the beds fresh and the students and staff fed, they now also started to decorate the Great Hall and large parts of the school appropriately.

Rose and Harry knew, of course, that their parents died on Halloween, but the festivities usually were a big enough distraction to not think about it too much.

After waking up on Halloween, in her past life, she would take a moment to think about them, about all the possible _what-could-have-beens_ , but afterwards, she would stow those feelings away and do her best to enjoy a feast full with pumpkins and sweets and friends.

She would be lying if she said that she didn't want to stay in bed and cry and miss her parents and hate being orphaned, but the way people talked about Lily and James Potter – Sirius especially and, _oh_ , how she missed _him_ – and the way she imagined them, she would always see their disappointed faces in her mind's eye. She imagined her parents would appreciate the couple of moments she would take to think of them on the day of their deaths, but then they would expect her to join her friends and just enjoy Halloween the way one of her age ought to, so that's what she would do and keep doing once Halloween would arrive. She made sure _this_ Harry was on the same page as her.

For now, though, she and her fellow Puff firsties were relaxing in their common room, sitting below a pot with pretty flowers which were swaying in a gentle rhythm, looking as if they were dancing. She made a mental note to ask Professor Sprout where she got those from.

A sudden _bang_ from a wand silenced the chatter in the common room and Rose, as curious as the rest of the present badgers, searched for the witch or wizard responsible. Only when Justin tapped her on the shoulder and pointed towards the entrance did she see the seventh-year prefects; the girl with her wand raised.

"Now that we have everyone's attention, it's time for our bi-monthly house-cup report," the boy began under excited chatter while the firsties just looked curious and confused. No one told them about such a thing! "As an explanation for the firsties, this list," he held up a parchment, "is enchanted to show which year has collected how many points for our house. According to Professor Sprout, it's been around even before her time, but she knows as much about its origin as we do. There are no student names on it, just the years, and only seventh-years and Professor Sprout know where it is kept."

"What we do with this report," the girl continued, seamlessly taking over from the boy, "is basically a small in-house-competition. We do this in the hopes of encouraging those, who fall behind in points or lost too many points in the past two months, to do better. Those who earned the most house points during the past two months will earn themselves a small, special treat, which doesn't mean the rest doesn't get to celebrate; our common room _is_ close to the kitchen after all," she finished with a wink. "What we do _not_ encourage in this little competition is petty jealousy or nastiness. If we catch even so much as a whiff of anything of the sort over something as small as this, the entire thing _will_ be stopped for the rest of the year. Got it?"

The firsties were all nodding and nervousness was already visible in some. She knew Ernie to be an overachiever for one, and his sudden tense posture was more than enough evidence of him wanting to _win this thing_. His study-time during fifth year was completely _mad_ and only rivalled by Hermione if what he said was true and she had no reason to believe otherwise.

But _this_ competition certainly was something new and interesting. Healthy competition was never wrong and bad; in fact, it could drive people to better themselves in all sorts of ways.

"Now, let's begin," the boy said, holding the enchanted parchment in front of him and reading out the points earned and lost from each year, starting with seventh.

Rose was listening with rapt attention while also trying to gauge the reaction throughout the common room, surprised to find it to be a mostly friendly atmosphere with a bit of banter going on here and there.

She had no illusions that Hufflepuff was without conflict or was a paradise of sorts. That one fifth-year glaring at a couple who, from what Rose could gather, were apparently caught by Snape during a particularly steamy make-out-session – outside of the common room after curfew no less – was just one evidence of that. But generally, this in-house-competition of the Puffs was how she would have expected it to be: fair and fun.

The fact that it was her year to win the first bi-monthly report of the term made it all the better. They earned themselves loud cheers and applause and a large plate with various desserts – she wasted no time snatching a couple of slices of treacle tart – and soon after, the other four prefects crawled through the entrance of the common room, carefully carrying trays with sandwiches, various finger-foods and snacks. They had to crawl back out to get the butterbeer and pumpkin juice, though.

The celebration of the firsties' successful start into their Hogwarts adventure was not as loud and wild as the Gryffindor parties she remembered, but it was just as fun.

She leaned back into the comfortable sofa she, Megan, Justin and Wayne were sitting on, all smiles and sparkly eyes, and the others were looking just as proud and happy of their first small achievement.

"Hey, firsties!"

Rose was looking up to see Maxine and Gabriel, the fifth year prefects, who first instructed them after the sorting ceremony and welcoming feast, walk up to them.

"Congratulations! I knew there was something special in you lot when I first laid eyes on you," Maxine said, looking very pleased with herself.

"It was your words which inspired us, after all," Rose said with good-natured sarcasm before taking another bite of her favourite food, earning herself chuckles from her friends and a wink from Maxine.

"Please don't make her head grow any bigger," Gabriel groaned.

"Shush, you. Anyway, we just wanted to say: good job, well done and keep it up. Don't start slacking off now just because you earned yourself your own plate of desserts," Maxine said, her tone more serious this time.

"We won't," Hannah promised and she did look motivated for more after tasting this – literally – sweet victory.

"That's what we like to hear. Keep doing your house proud!" Gabriel said, high-fiving all of them.

The two prefects then left to join their own year, leaving Rose and her friends to enjoy the rest of the evening in each others company.

* * *

Halloween was the perfect opportunity. She had thought long and hard about this and thought that it was probably the best course of action. It would be, aside from her mere existence, the first very major change to events compared to her own past life.

First, though, there was another fire that needed to be put out and after showing her brother just _how_ disappointed she was in him, she made her way to the girls' lavatory and sighed at the sobs and hiccups she heard from one of the stalls.

"Hermione?" she called out, adjusting her satchel on her shoulder.

The sobs stopped and she heard a sniffle, followed by silence. Finally, the crying girl decided to talk. "Who's there? Leave me alone."

"Rose."

"Please just go away."

Rose sighed and walked towards one of the sinks, leaned with her back against it and crossed her arms over her chest. "Sorry, but no." She was silent for a moment before speaking again. "...I want to apologize for my brother. Can't do the same for Ron, though, since, well…" she finished with a shrug, even though Hermione couldn't see it.

"You don't need to apologize at all...it's not your fault," Hermione said in between sniffles. "I guess I'm just not made for friends," she continued, her voice going higher with every word and it was clear she was just on the verge of breaking into tears again.

"Come on, don't be stupid," Rose sighed, thinking about how great Hermione had been in her past life. Yes, she was hard to get used to; strong in her opinions, a very strict and very inflexible moral compass – though that did change later on...just a little bit – too trusting in authorities just because of the titles they wore…

But she was fiercely loyal and very protective of her friends, never afraid to speak her mind and call others out, not to mention her great magical talent.

Rose bit her bottom lip before moving away from the sink and in front of the stall Hermione was hiding away in. "I'm going to be honest here, so let me finish first, okay?"

"Okay…"

"I understand where Ron and my brother are coming from, _but_ they were complete gits about it."

Hermione didn't say anything for a while, but then, kind of unexpectedly, unlocked her stall's door, eyes rimmed red, bloodshot and puffy, her cheeks tear-stained. "What do you mean you understand where they are coming from? Be honest, please."

"Look, I don't know you personally, so, I don't know how much Ron or Harry might be...you know, over the top here," Rose began carefully. She then put her bag onto the ground close to the wall and sat on it, tucking her skirt down between her legs and pushing her knees together. She patted the ground next to her and, after a moment's hesitation, Hermione followed suit after putting her own bag next to Rose. "Harry told me you are a bit…"

"A bit of a know-it-all?" Hermione almost spat and it was clear how much that particular label stung.

"He didn't call you that, but honestly, you should take it with pride instead of being insulted. _I'd_ like to know it all. If they think _you_ do, that's pretty brilliant in my opinion."

Hermione didn't reply to that, but the tiniest smile forced itself onto her lips as she held her gaze firmly on the floor.

"Harry told me that you are a bit difficult to study with," Rose began, her fingers toying with the hem of her skirt. "That sometimes they feel like you are putting people down and you never accept different opinions-"

"But there are no two opinions on a spell's pronunciation!"

"I get _that_ ," Rose said while holding up her hands placatingly, "but what about essays for example? In my study group, no one had the exact same three poisonous plants for our herbology essay, for example. Everyone's opinion is valid, even if you think that yours is... _more right_. That's their biggest gripe with you I think. Not that you are smart or a quick learner. No one can be stupid enough to be mad at someone else for _that_."

"I...I see," Hermione muttered, looking deep in thought.

"It's not really fun to study in a group if one person is spending the entire time being condescending and telling others what to do and how to do it, without giving the rest a chance to talk, you know?"

"Oh. I...I guess that does sound a bit like me. I just can't help it sometimes."

"I'm not trying to tell you to change your whole personality, but…"

"Tone it down a bit?" Hermione offered, glancing at Rose from the corner of her eyes.

"Yep."

Remembering that she was on the clock here, Rose then got back up to her feet and held out a hand for Hermione, who took the offer with another small smile.

"Feeling better?" Rose asked Hermione with her head slightly cocked to the side.

"I think so," Hermione answered with a small, shy shrug. "You've given me quite a lot to think about."

"I'm not saying that the things Ron said to you are your fault. Calling you a...what was it? An 'Annoying, bossy know-it-all of a witch'? That was not okay at all. But I think he just exploded at you because, well...I suppose your attitude can be a bit harsh on the nerves," Rose finished with a low voice and a shy shrug of herself. It really was difficult to be this brutally honest and she never even said those things to _her_ Hermione in her past life. She just eventually got used to it.

"No, I understand. I _can_ be really bossy, I guess and all the other things...well, I'll talk to them. They are... _were_ -"

"They still _are_ your friends. They did feel terrible because they made you cry."

Hermione visibly relaxed at that. "Oh. Okay," she said before she finished splashing her face with water. "Why did you apologize for Harry, though? He didn't say anything."

"But that's just it!" Rose huffed in annoyance. "He didn't do anything! He didn't stop you or try to talk to you or even tell Ron that he was being a git. He should know better." But _maybe_ he didn't know better. _She_ didn't know better, back when _she_ was Harry and Ron called Hermione a nightmare and said how she had no friends. However, she wasn't _that_ Harry anymore. Living this life in this body, seeing _this_ Harry from _this_ perspective and how _different from_ _her_ and _similar to_ _her_ he was; it gave her a lot of _hindsight-is-20/20-_ moments. _In hindsight_ , so many of her little mistakes became obvious and a lot of her really oblivious moments made her cringe inwardly. It hadn't been all her fault, obviously. A lot of who she had been and was now was a result of her upbringing and still, a lot of it had also just been _her being her_.

But that's why she was here. To guide _this_ Harry, so he could be a better Harry than _she_ had been.

* * *

While she was lost in her thoughts, Hermione and she had left for the Great Hall and, once there, were moving towards their house's tables. Hermione took the moment before they separated to pull her into a tight hug.

"Thank you."

Rose just grinned and squeezed her in return. "You are welcome. That's what friends are for."

Hermione then pulled away to beam at her before heading to where Harry and Ron were sitting, leaving Rose to head to the Hufflepuff table. There she found a spot to sit next to Megan, with whom she was getting along really well. She was a fun girl, that one.

The feast hadn't officially started yet, but on the tables, there were various pumpkin pastries strewn across and carved pumpkins floating about. Plates with all kinds of candies and sweets were waiting to be plundered and none of the students, be they firsties or seventh-years or a fifth-year boy in the body of a first-year girl, were hesitating to do just so.

The chatter among the students was easy and light, the atmosphere in the Great Hall inviting and warm. Everyone was enjoying themselves.

The school's staff had also arrived, except for one, and _he_ chose _then_ to burst into the hall, yelling about a troll in the dungeons.

The students reacted as Rose knew they would: there were immediate screams of panic, Quirrell still feigning unconsciousness in the middle of the hall, and she chose this moment of chaos and confusion to draw her wand carefully and whisper ' _accio Quirrell's turban_ ' under her breath, begging everything she could think of that this would go as she hoped it would.

She pocketed her wand quickly, effectively cancelling the spell, as another wave of fear and panic was washing over the student body, but there was a stunned silence instead of screams this time around.

She couldn't really see what was going on, stuck between all those other taller students, but there was a lone scream of rage followed by a different one of agony and just listening to Quirrell's high-pitched screams of pain gave her goosebumps all over her body. And then he fell silent.

There was a bit of shuffling and she managed to squeeze through a few older students just in time to see how a group of students screamed and ducked when Voldemort's wraith-form charged at them. She then heard Dumbledore's clear voice, followed by a wave of powerful magic. "You will _not_ touch these children."

The wraith screamed once more as it was pushed away farther and farther and farther and there was no way Rose could tell just how far away this spell was driving Voldemort from the castle when he was disappeared by Dumbledore's power.

The silence remained; everyone was too stunned to talk.

The Headmaster then spoke up, gaining everyone's attention with ease. "There will be an explanation for what just transpired tomorrow morning, but for now, please return to your common rooms; the feast will be brought to you there. Your Head of House will accompany you while I will take care of the troll problem. Please do still enjoy your feast."

_Well_ , Rose thought to herself, _this could have gone worse._

She just hoped that she hadn't scarred the whole of Hogwarts student body for life.


	8. Just Like That

The immediate aftermath to the events on Halloween was as one would expect. The students were talking about nothing else, the younger populace especially had trouble sleeping – Rose felt terrible for _that_ – and the most ridiculous of theories as to what took place were being exchanged.

Dumbledore _did_ give the students an explanation and it was _mostly_ the truth: Quirrell was possessed by a powerful wraith and died upon it abandoning its host.

How many of the older students would end up believing it, would be interesting to see, considering Rose had no idea how many of them actually knew what Voldemort looked like.

A host of Aurors and even Madam Bones herself were present on the morning following the events to deal with the necessary investigation and cleanup and Rose wondered just how much of the truth Dumbledore decided to tell Susan's aunt. The Prophet article talking about ' _Wraith Horror on Halloween in Hogwarts_ ' would suggest that Dumbledore told Madam Bones as much of the truth as he told his students, but Rose wasn't too sure about that, after all, it could also just mean that Madam Bones decided to not mention Voldemort to the press and handle _that_ part from the background instead. At least Rose hoped that was the case.

From what she could gather, there were still owls sent by students to their parents here and there, about the wraith, and _some_ of the students, Hufflepuffs included, described what the face on the back of Quirrell's face looked like, making more than a few of said parents panic. The staff started to receive a lot of letters and the press was having a field day, while Dumbledore and Bones were trying to keep things calm and speculations in check. Rose felt a little bit bad there.

As for the DADA position, the Headmaster decided to take over for the rest of the year.

All in all, the fallout was about what she expected, what with Dumbledore telling half-truths and only what he deemed necessary knowledge for others. He didn't tell lies in his explanation, just omitted details, and Rose wasn't even really mad about it. She did actually understand the _why_ behind his decision to not mention Voldemort to the students.

The _why_ was sitting next to her right now, in early November, with a queasy stomach, a sickly pale complexion and a frown on his face. She was rubbing his back and urging him to eat _something_.

"Come on, Harry, don't make me force-feed you," she said gently while still managing to sound exasperated. She didn't want to imagine what he would look like if Dumbledore had decided to reveal that the wraith was, in fact, Voldemort. All the renewed attention Harry would certainly receive, _plus_ his pre-Quidditch nerves would only lead to an utter disaster. This way, it would only be his refusal to eat she and his friends had to deal with, which was annoying enough. Had she been like that, too?

"'m not hungry…"

"You _are_ h-"

"Look at that, Potter has to be babysat by his baby sister!" A voice behind her said, followed by grunts that probably were supposed to be chuckles.

Harry stiffened visibly but she just kept rubbing his back. "Ignore him," she whispered and, with a resigned sigh, he tried to relax a bit while _finally_ putting a sausage in his mouth.

"Good. Finish that plate. You'll need the energy up there," Rose continued, still pointedly ignoring the blonde menace behind her and her brother, which he obviously didn't approve of if the low growl and the stomping of his shoes were anything to go by, once he left them alone.

"See?" She said smugly, looking on as her brother kept slowly eating. "He's the kind of git who just wants to get a reaction from you. Ignore him and he ends up looking stupid like he just did."

"That's true," Hermione said with a nod.

"Anyway, I'm going to finish my own breakfast now," Rose said while getting up from her chair. "Every Hufflepuff is going to cheer for you, Harry. Good luck!"

* * *

The match itself didn't go at all the way she remembered. With Fred and George not distracted by Harry's hexed-broom-predicament, the Slytherin chasers were not free to do as they wished. The game was close and exciting, but in the end, Harry was the better seeker and gave his house a 160-point-win.

* * *

Winter took hold of the castle before they knew it and the Christmas holidays were upon them. The lake was frozen, the grounds covered in a thick sheet of snow and most of the students were at home with their families.

Rose and her twin remained at the castle, as did a handful of Puffs – Megan and Sally-Anne included – and the Weasleys, among some others throughout the houses she couldn't name.

Christmas arrived and presents were being exchanged. Rose bought presents for all her first-year friends and received in kind, although it was mainly limited to mixed-sweets boxes since most of them were not _that_ familiar yet with each other's likes and dislikes. It was the thought that counted though, and over time they would actually be able to gift each other thoughtful things, but just seeing that everyone in their group thought everyone in their group was someone to get a Christmas present for was enough.

Despite not being particularly close to any Weasleys this time around, she still received a Weasley jumper – in Hufflepuff Yellow with a big R in the centre – which was slightly too big for her, but she loved it all the same and got wobbly-chinned and teary-eyed and she was one-hundred-per cent certain that _that_ reaction was solely coming from her Rose-self and nothing else. The fact that she very likely just got it because she was Harry's sister did nothing to take away from Mrs Weasley going out of her way for her, even in this life.

Megan, Susan, Ernie and Lily, the four with whom she was closest out of all her friends, put their money together to get her a herbology kit with a big beginner's guide and an encyclopedia of magical plants. She _loved_ it.

One important thing she noticed – and kind of expected – was, how she did _not_ receive the invisibility cloak this time around, which meant that it was very likely Harry…again-ish?...was who got it. It didn't matter though. She knew Harry wouldn't hide it from her because he adored Rose...her – even after all these months, this sibling relationship between her and someone _she used to be_ was still weird – and her assumptions were proven correct when he told her about it in the Great Hall in excited whispers.

But, out of everything she received, the single greatest gift would be what would come a day later.

* * *

With so few students staying at Hogwarts during the Christmas hols, the different houses were all seated together, a chance Rose took to eat with Harry once in a while.

So it was no surprise when the group of first-year Hufflepuffs sat with Harry, Ron and the other Weasleys, but it elicited a few curious looks and some snickering from Fred and George, when Harry shot up from his chair, grabbed Rose by her arm and dragged her out of the Great Hall in a nook between two armours.

"You do realize I'm hungry, right?" Rose groaned in exasperation.

"I had to show you this!" Harry whispered excitedly before pulling out a folded piece of parchment from his pants' back pocket and Rose had to do _all_ she could to not squeal then and there.

"I have enough parchment, but thank you," she said dryly, trying her best to sound disinterested and annoyed.

"Look!" He pulled out his wand, tapped the parchment with it and whispered. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The moment the last word left his lips the Marauder's Map came to life, lines crisscrossing all over the parchment, branching out and then, there it was, the map of Hogwarts right in front of her. Just like that.

"Where did you get _this_?" She asked her brother and she really, honestly was curious. How and why did Fred and George decide to just give Harry the map?

"I was outside yesterday night-" " _What_?!" "-and the twins said they saw another potential mischief-maker in me," Harry continued as if she hadn't demanded an explanation from him for his nightly stroll, making her squint her eyes dangerously at her twin in return, "with the cloak and everything, so they trailed me with the map and when they caught me, they pulled me into an empty classroom and decided to give me _this_. It can see through our cloak!" He continued and Rose couldn't help but smile warmly at him. _Their_ cloak. "It shows where everybody is at any time!"

"And the school's biggest pranksters decided to give you such a tool, just like that?"

"Just like that. But they did say that they've memorized everything there is on this map. Every secret passage and everything else."

Meanwhile, _she_ had quite literally racked her brain for the past months, trying to come up with _anything_ to get the twins to give her the map. And there it was, _just like that_. Bless those Weasley twins and their penchant for dramatics and theatricality. But now, time for action.

 _I_ ' _ve got you_ , _Padfoot._

"Who's that?" Rose asked and pointed at the name she hated more than anything in this world. Even more than Lord Voldemort.

"Who?" Harry looked at where she pointed and his brows furrowed in confusion. "I...I don't know? There isn't supposed to be anyone in our common room. Just the Weasleys and me."

"We've got to show this to a teacher, Harry."

"But what if they take it away?" He asked, looking at her with wide eyes, urging her to not to do it.

She raised a brow at him. "Sorry, but if there's someone in the Gryffindor tower who is not supposed to be there, it's more important to me that my big brother is safe than for him to keep this parchment, and I hope you'd think the same way in case there was some stranger in the Hufflepuff common room."

He whined, rather pitifully so, before handing her the parchment. Wasting no further time, she quickly headed back to the Great Hall and towards the Headmaster.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

He looked at her, his blue eyes twinkling over his half-moon glasses. "How may I help you, Miss Potter?"

Rose could literally feel the eyes of her friends and the few other students present burning into her back in curiosity, just as much as she could feel her brother's self-pity radiating off of him. "Harry showed me something and I saw something that I thought you should see."

"You have piqued my curiosity and, I do believe, that of my colleagues as well."

He motioned for her to come closer to the table and she did so. "Harry showed me this map," she began and she winced at the scandalized gasps coming from the twins when they realized what she was about to do, "and I saw a name there...in the Gryffindor common room, and I asked Harry who that was because it wasn't anybody I was familiar with and he said that no one was supposed to be in there." She then proceeded to hand him the map and his brows rose immediately.

"What a marvellous piece of magic," he commented, sounding impressed before his expression turned serious and grim in an instant. "This is accurate?"

"Yes, sir," Harry added, also having caught onto the change of mood in Dumbledore.

The Headmaster then stood up from his chair, faster and smoother than a man of his age should be able to. "Students, do _not_ return to your common rooms until I or Professor McGonagall say you can. Please stay here in the Great Hall until further notice. Minerva, contact Madam Bones immediately. Request Aurors. Filius, Severus, come with me. Pomona, please watch the children here."

None of the teachers questioned him; they were all business instead and followed his orders efficiently.

Harry looked at her with wide and surprised eyes; she returned it with a shrug, confident that she was able to convey the expression of a confused and surprised girl.

And now all she could do was to wait and hope.

* * *

They didn't see the Aurors come into school and neither did they see them leave. All they could do was wait until some information was available.

Rose was beyond nervous, even though she knew that Dumbledore alone would be more than enough to deal with one cowardly rat. The fact that he still had Flitwick and Snape with him _should_ calm her nerves, but it really did not.

The few students, who remained in the castle for Christmas, had little to do but chat and speculate.

An hour passed, followed by another and then, _finally,_ a somewhat shaken looking McGonagall returned to the Great Hall, allowing the students to head back to their dorms while asking the Potter twins to come with her.

Rose's heart was starting to thump wildly in her chest, almost painful. She followed the Gryffindor Head of House and was glad to see that Professor Sprout had joined them too, now that the students were safe to leave the Great Hall.

"What is going on, Minerva?" Sprout asked with curiosity and concern tinting her voice.

McGonagall answered after glancing at Rose. "Miss Potter here has uncovered what seems to be a grave injustice by discovering a man long thought dead."

So it _did_ work, but before she could scream in joy and cry in happiness, she had to rely on her acting talents once more. "What do you mean, Professor? Who is this Peter Pettigrew?"

At that name drop, Professor Sprout gasped audibly. "Peter Pettigrew?"

"Indeed," McGonagall nodded gravely before stopping in front of the all too familiar gargoyle guarding the staircase to Dumbledore's office. "Acid drop."

The statue stepped aside and made room for them to enter. They climbed up the circular staircase leading to Dumbledore's office and after knocking, McGonagall led them all inside.

In the office, aside from Dumbledore, Flitwick and Snape, there was also Susan's aunt waiting for them.

"Professor Sprout, Mr Potter, Miss Potter," Madam Bones greeted them. "My name is Amelia Bones, Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement."

Rose couldn't help herself. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but are you Susan's aunt?" Rose wanted to get to know the woman better than in her past life. Even then, even after just a very brief interaction, did she find her stern, yet fair and an overall admirable woman.

Madam Bones smiled in return; it was soft, barely there, but it was kind all the same. "I am, indeed. I take it she does talk about me? She certainly does talk about you."

"When we started our year, Susan would begin almost any sentence with 'my aunt told me' or 'auntie said'," Rose revealed with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I'll have to remember that," Madam Bones said with humour before returning to business. "Now, as to why I asked for you two to come here...I've been told that some details surrounding the circumstances of your parents' deaths have been omitted from you."

"What does 'omitted' mean?" Harry asked shyly.

"It means that some things were left out and you haven't been told everything," Madam Bones explained.

"Oh," was all Harry replied to that, but his visible scowl betrayed his disappointment.

Rose already knew the full story, so she only listened with half an ear once everything surrounding Sirius and Pettigrew and their father was laid bare. She kept an eye on Harry and she could already see the telltale signs of his emotions shutting down, especially after the part of Sirius never even receiving a trial. She reached over to grab his hand and, without even looking at her, he immediately held on tightly, squeezing in gratitude. In times like these, when another wrong in her life had been revealed, she had wished for support like this; for someone to share their strength with her, for someone to share her burden with. If nothing else, she was at least glad that Harry had that in her now and she was more than happy to provide him with that support.

"Now, Sirius Black will receive a trial so that we can get to the bottom of all of this," Susan's aunt finished.

"Dear Merlin, that poor Sirius…" Professor Sprout commented, now looking as shocked as McGonagall and Flitwick over the implications of Pettigrew's capture.

Snape, on the other hand, looked like a kid whose candy was stolen. So bitter that even having Sirius rot in Azkaban innocently was preferable to him being free. _Bloody git_.

"I do believe that these children should be with their friends in their common rooms now. Rest and time to process everything is what they need," Dumbledore spoke up and Rose couldn't agree more. She felt drained. Two major changes were accomplished in only her first half-year as Rose Potter and it would give _this_ Harry what she wanted to give him: the chance to grow as naturally as possible, without constant near-death-experiences and at least a complete first year for him to just be an eleven-year-old firstie experiencing the magic of Hogwarts with his friends.

"Mr Black's trial will be pushed ahead as a high-priority case. There will be no need for either of you two to be present and I _urge_ you to remain here in the castle and away from the press's attention," Madam Bones spoke to her and Harry again. "Anything else?" She asked the other adults present and when she got a few shaken heads and _noes_ in return, she took that as her cue to say her goodbyes. "Very well then. I will take my leave."

Dumbledore nodded at her in gratitude. "Thank you for your help and time, Amelia."

* * *

She was led to the badgers' basement by Professor Sprout and she was glad. She liked the woman; she really did.

"Are you feeling alright, dear?" her Head of House asked.

"I...I don't know," Rose answered truthfully. "Everything's a bit much, I guess."

And it was. A sense of relief was _still_ washing over her, now that the first year was just one of relaxation and of being firsties. Not even in her past life did she have that. _That_ past life's first year was all about hexed brooms and Snape and Fluffy and Norbert(a). None of it mattered _this time_. Instead, she could learn and experience how to just _be_. It was an exciting and beautiful thing to look forward to.

"Do you think Harry and I could write Mr Black a letter, Professor? To wish him good luck for his trial?"

The Professor was beaming with pride. "I am sure he would be very happy about it. Be sure to address it to Madam Bones, though."

"I will."


	9. Family

Sirius's trial was, naturally, _the_ big news in the wizarding world and not just because it could mean that an innocent man had spent the past ten years of his life in Azkaban, no.

It was big news because it also was a massive hit for Barty Crouch Sr, whose reputation was already forever tainted, thanks to his Death-Eater-son. Now, on top of that, Barty Sr had to eat a lot of criticism and scrutiny for the following weeks and months and his political career took a lot of damage. Rose digested that piece of information with a stoic pleasure.

The trial itself didn't even take long. According to the Daily Prophet, it really was just a matter of a couple of hours and, just like that, Sirius was a free man.

She hoped the letter Harry and she had written for him together managed to at least put a smile on his face. Rose knew he wouldn't be able to answer anytime soon since, this time, he would be able to get actual help to recover from Azkaban. It would need time and patience, but in the end, it would be more than worth it. There were very few in this world who deserved it more than him.

The rest of the year in Hogwarts also went off without so much as a hitch. With no Voldemort stuck to a teacher's head, no Cerberus guarding a trap door, no dragon emergency in Hagrid's hut, there was only one thing for them left to do and that was _to be students_.

So that was what they were. Harry got his map returned by Dumbledore, they got to know Hagrid – or _she_ got to know Hagrid _again_ – once he got around to invite them which, curiously, was much later than in her past life. They got to hang around with friends, they got to study like everybody else. It was normal, it was _bliss_ and Rose was soaking it in with every pore of her being.

And during that time of normalcy, Rose could also spend some time getting to know her new _self_ better. Between homework and studying and thinking of ways to expose Quirrell and Pettigrew, she _forgot_ _to_ _think_ about her situation more often than not.

There _were_ instances, here and there, when she did things or said things which made her take a moment and pause, which made her wonder just what part of her _did that_ or _said this_. But now that she had more actual time at her hands, she thought more and more about herself, took actual stock of her behaviour and mannerisms, and was kind of surprised – maybe even shocked – to find herself slipping into this role, into this new life, more and more naturally.

It was the little things she used to observe in girls when she was a boy in her previous life, which seemed to bleed into her self, like simple hand motions and movements, the way she was sitting on a sofa with her feet tucked under her bum, the way she was waving her hands around when talking animatedly, the way she unconsciously started to play with her hair when reading or thinking…all these little things which weren't there before when she woke up in this body, suddenly became second nature to her while she wasn't paying attention, and she had no clue what to do with any of it. She knew, logically, that those mannerisms weren't _inherently_ female in nature, but they were things she saw predominantly in girls when she used to be a boy in her past life.

And technically, _logically_ , she knew she shouldn't worry or even complain. She _was_ a girl in this life, after all. The more natural it looked and was, the better.

A part of her, though...a part of her felt like she was losing herself into something she was not. She was supposed to be a boy, only remembered being a boy, only knew how to be a boy.

But that wasn't true, was it?

After initial struggles, she took to this life rather easily. She even started to enjoy it. She had more fun and more friends and more peace, even if the Voldemort threat was still looming over them, and, while her being a girl probably had little to do with her enjoying her life for the first time ever, her being a girl _was_ still a major – _the_ major – part of this life and this life was great. _Really_ great.

If she was really honest, if she really looked deep down, she _hated_ being Harry Potter. She hated everything that came with it: the scar, the nightmares, the constant attention, the constant scrutiny, the constant threat of death, the fickle opinions of the public when it came to her…

Being _Rose_ however...she _loved_ it. She loved everything about being Rose and about _this_ life. She loved her new friends – which didn't mean that she hadn't felt the same way about Ron and Hermione – she loved Hufflepuff, she loved too many things to count.

Being a girl with omnipresent memories of being a boy was difficult though. She felt like she was giving something up and giving something up was not an easy thing to do. She felt like she was losing herself and who would want to lose themselves? She felt like she was betraying something and betrayal was always terrible.

She knew she would come to terms with all of this eventually. It was a given because she enjoyed being Rose and she enjoyed this new chance at _actually_ living, but she was having no illusions about how difficult it was and was still going to be.

She would have to power through, though. For herself and for Harry.

But especially for herself.

* * *

The year was officially over with a surprise house-cup win for Rose and her Puffs, but the Gryffindors cruised to claim the Quidditch cup with a perfect win record, while her Puffs had a perfect...loss-record. She _definitely_ would have a chance at the seeker spot next year. Diggory would just have to make do with a new position if he wanted to play.

The greatest victory Harry and she could celebrate, however, was the fact that they didn't have to return to the Dursleys. She was stunned when she read that in Sirius's letter just before the term officially ended. Long discussions with Dumbledore had apparently led to a compromise between the two of them, but Sirius didn't elaborate in his letter, so all that she was left with was guesswork.

Rose wasn't complaining though. No Dursleys, ever again? Sign her up!

And that was how giddy she and Harry were throughout the whole trip from Hogwarts to London. There was no sadness, no dread, no reluctance, no resignation.

It was just pure, unadulterated joy.

Throughout the whole trip back she and Harry were joking and laughing with their friends, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff firsties having seated themselves in neighbouring compartments.

The compartment doors were left open too, so they could also talk to one another, to make a small and delicate inter-house relationship start forming itself.

Before they knew it, the _Hogwarts Express_ reached its destination and they arrived on Platform 9 ¾ in King's Cross Station. Securing their luggage, they stepped off the train, manoeuvring through the mass of their fellow students and getting onto the platform.

"Let's write each other, okay?" Susan said as she hugged Rose goodbye. Rose agreed, of course, while trying to think of a way to deal with Dobby before that crazy little house-elf made a mess of things once more.

It took her a bit to say goodbye to all of her friends, but once she was done, she grinned at Harry before heading towards the exit, where Sirius said he would wait for them.

And when she saw him, it was a real struggle to not just run and jump into his arms and weep uncontrollably because he was there and alive and free and healthy. He was there to pick them up and take them home _with him_.

Sirius gave them a misty-eyed smile, which Harry returned shyly and Rose tried to copy it as best as she could, what with that wobbly chin and the sniffles. Back when she was Harry, she rarely ever cried. She couldn't bring herself to do it because she was too emotionally stunted to be able to.

This body, however, made her _very_ emotional.

"Hi," Sirius said, his voice rough and thick and she was glad she wasn't the only one who had trouble with keeping herself together. "I'm Sirius...you've probably seen me in the Prophet, but not from my be-oof!"

She couldn't hold it any longer and just ran up to him and hugged him as tightly as she could because he was _here_ and _alive_ and _free_. "Thank you for taking us!" she whispered through her sniffles. How else could she explain breaking down in the arms of a man who was, essentially, still a stranger to them, aside from a few exchanged letters?

He squeezed her small form against his. "You don't have to thank me for that, Rosie. You don't have to ever thank me for that. What are you waiting for, little man?" And a moment later she felt her brother shake against her and there they were, this small family, finally together.

* * *

"Whoa," was all Harry said when they stepped through the front door into Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore had waited in front of it for them and it was obvious to Rose that part of the compromise was for the Hogwarts Headmaster to be the secret keeper for it. There were worse choices in her opinion.

But Rose had to concur with Harry's reaction. This was nothing like Rose remembered Grimmauld Place to be. Gone were the dreary and dark colour themes, gone were the morbid decorations, gone was the portrait of Sirius' crazy mother.

Sirius really went to work on his old home. It was thoroughly changed, now looking warm and inviting and like a place, she could happily and safely spend the months in between her Hogwarts terms.

"You like it? It took me a long time to make this place liveable again."

"It's amazing," she whispered and she meant it. She briefly wondered where Kreacher was but dismissed that thought again, simply hoping that Sirius had given that menace a piece of clothing.

"There were a lot of dark artefacts here, but between Arthur Weasley – you are friends with his youngest son, right Harry? – and Dumbledore, we cleaned it out pretty thoroughly," Sirius explained while guiding them through the house.

After seeing the living room, kitchen and everything else downstairs, he took them to the upper floor to show them their bedrooms and Rose already had an inkling on how they would look.

And when she was shown Harry's room she couldn't stop herself from snorting.

It was almost a bit worrisome how easily she shed her lion's red and gold in favour of Hufflepuff colours. She loved the badgers too much for her heart to seriously struggle between the two houses anymore. There simply was little to no competition.

She had become a Hufflepuff through and through.

It was almost worrisome. _Almost._

"It's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed and he turned around to give Sirius another fierce hug. "Thank you, Sirius!"

"It's the very least I can do," Sirius said while returning Harry's gesture. "I've got a lot to make up to you two."

"It's no-"

"No, Rose. I shouldn't have run after Peter. I am your godfather and my first responsibility is always you two. Not my personal grief or revenge. Always you two." He paused for a bit, obviously still haunted by what he had to go through. "I deserved a trial, there are no two opinions there, but...if I hadn't chased after _him_ , I wouldn't have gotten into that position in the first place." He sighed before smiling at them again. "What's done is done, though, and we can't change it. We'll just make the best of what we have now."

He was right for the most part, of course. One thing, however, he got completely wrong.

_If only you knew, Padfoot, just much you can change if you die when you aren't supposed to._

Her godfather then led her to her room, right next to Harry's, and now it was her turn to beam with happiness at the Hufflepuff-yellow walls, the badger motif behind her bed, the black details accentuating the room. There was a desk, a large walk-in wardrobe, a bookshelf and still space for other things she might want to add. There was also a wooden plant stand with enough room for several pots and she squealed in delight. "Thank you! So much! This is amazing!"

And it was. Her Rose-self was on a nonstop emotional rollercoaster after seeing her godfather for the first time since he fell through the veil in her past life and her Harry-self couldn't control it one bit.

It didn't even really matter. Her Rose-self was happy, her Harry-self was happy. Both were completely in sync.

This was what life supposed to be like.

And she could almost feel her mum and dad agreeing with her.

* * *

Sirius seemingly did indeed 'fire' Kreacher and good riddance that was, in Rose's opinion. Instead, an utterly adorable, young female house-elf named Tappy was now working for house Black. Rose absolutely fell in love with her big, round and innocent eyes and her spirit and how enthusiastic she was.

Aside from Kreacher's replacement, Rose also noticed one big difference between the Sirius she used to know and the Sirius she got to know here. _This_ Sirius was loud, boisterous, fun and indulgent. The _other_ Sirius also was those things, but only to a certain extent. The Sirius she used to know was a haunted man, always fearing to get caught. There was always something tense about him.

But _this_ Sirius...he was _free_.

And he did make the most of it at any given minute, desperate to not even waste any more precious _seconds_ with his godchildren.

And _that_ , of course, meant showing them the art of pranking, which Harry took to more than she did. Her Rose-self seemed to have taken more after their mother in that regard, but Harry, certainly, was a marauder deep down.

And when Rose left the two of them to their shenanigans, she busied herself with her very own, tiny garden in her room.

Back in Hogwarts, she did ask her Head of House about those little dancing flowers in the Hufflepuff common room and now she could watch her very own, colourful specimens grow and bloom.

And while she was tending to her little 'garden', she thought of all the exchanged letters between herself and her friends as well as the exchanged letters between her twin and _his_ friends. Nothing went missing and everything got answered. She remembered how, at this time in her past life, she received nothing at all. Not a single letter got returned.

This obviously meant that a major change had happened.

Where was Dobby?

* * *

The summer holidays were the best Rose could remember ever having, in this life and the last, though _this_ life only included the summer holidays before her first year as Rose.

If she actually thought about it, there were no memories at all of Rose from before dead-Harry got moved into this body. It was as if Rose only started to actually exist from that moment on. Weird.

Most of the first month they spent with Sirius and, very quickly, Rose's and Harry's birthday approached.

"Ron said his mum actually invited me and Rose to spend some time over there and that we can celebrate our birthday there," Harry said over breakfast.

Rose cocked her head at what Harry told them. "That actually sounds nice. I wonder if I could invite some of my friends though, but I wouldn't want to intrude." She'd definitely be terribly sad if she couldn't invite her Puffs. A lot of them were away at holidays anyway, but she knew that Susan would be available at least and Megan too. Ernie was in Spain with his parents and Lily got to see the exotic Caribbean beach. Definitely enviable.

"We can always ask," Harry shrugged.

"I don't mind you spending time with your friends, don't worry about that. I'll talk to Molly about your birthday though," Sirius answered. "I know the Weasleys aren't that well off and I wouldn't want them to shoulder your birthday – with possibly other invited kids – by themselves. It's only right that I take over some of the responsibilities, especially considering it's _you two's_ birthday."

"You taking on responsibilities?" Rose teased. "The only thing you've been responsible for so far since we live here is pranks."

She had to laugh at her godfather's scandalised expression.

* * *

They arrived at the Burrow via floo a couple of days before their birthday. Ron and Mrs Weasley were there to greet them and, after Rose and Harry said their helloes, Ron showed them where they would sleep, stopping in front of Ginny's bedroom for Rose before leading Harry to his.

This was going to be so _very_ weird. She didn't want to think what _her_ Ron would have had to say if he knew that his best mate would share his baby sister's bedroom in the body of a girl...that sounded terrible even in her head.

With a sigh, she knocked on the door and a faint ' _come in_!' called her inside.

Opening the door, Rose stepped inside, looking at Ginny sitting on her bed and leafing through some magazine before turning around and looking back at Rose.

"Hi." Ginny greeted her.

"Hi," Rose said back. "Ron said I'm going to sleep here."

"Just put your bag over there," Ginny pointed at a small space between her wardrobe and the wall.

Rose did as asked before taking a moment to really take in the room. It was a bit small, but she didn't mind; she lived in a cupboard for most of her life after all. The walls were painted pink and a couple of posters of Gwenog Jones and The Weird Sisters were decorating the walls. The highlight, however, was definitely the view of the orchard. "That's a great view," Rose commented while still looking out of the window, remembering all those Quidditch matches she used to have out there in a life long gone by now; it's been over a year, after all, since she got to live _this_ life.

"The best in the house," Ginny quipped.

"You are starting Hogwarts this year, right?" Rose asked while trying not to make her voice tremble a bit at the memories of what the poor girl had to suffer throughout her first Hogwarts year. It was a real-life horror.

"Yep! I'm really looking forward to it. It was a bit lonely here with all my brothers gone. I mean, Luna's here too, but it still wasn't the same."

Almost groaning at the memories of mistletoes infested with nargles, Rose kept the conversation going. "Who's Luna?"

"She's a friend who's also going to start Hogwarts this year," Ginny explained. "She's really nice but hasn't really been right in her head since her mother died. She's still my best friend, though."

"Would you like her to come to Harry's and my birthday? I wouldn't mind inviting her." Rose didn't know just why exactly she made that offer, but she did. More importantly, though, Rose didn't miss the blush colouring Ginny's cheeks the moment Harry was mentioned.

So, _that_ was still a thing.

"Oh, would you? That'd be so nice, thank you!" Ginny gushed, her face still visibly red, even as she tried to hide it.

"I really don't mind. Feel free to tell her that she's invited." Rose smiled at her. She hadn't been blind to how pretty Ginny actually was, back in her old life, but the constant blushing, hiding and stuttering had _really_ been grinding on her nerves.

And _that_ _poem_ about her green eyes like pickled toads or something. She had to suppress a shiver at the memory.

Now, though...now that _she_ wasn't Harry Potter, but his sister, she couldn't decide whether to rescue her brother from Ginny's fangirl-phase or have fun with it.

Well...a bit of fun never hurt anybody.


	10. Summer Of Family

Watching Ginny get flustered around Harry was certainly amusing this time around. Maybe – no, _definitely_ because it wasn't _her_ on the receiving end of it. Seeing it play out as an 'outsider', so to speak, she could now understand why some did find it funny, back when she was in Harry's shoes.

Ginny, at least, didn't have to suffer through a repeat of the elbow-in-the-butter-dish-incident, so there was that small reprieve for the youngest Weasley.

Her twin took all of that with a _very_ similar amount of discomfort as she did in her previous life and Rose found it _incredibly_ difficult to hide the constant entertainment she was taking from it.

When waking up on the morning of their birthday, however, Rose did decide to spare Harry any further discomfort.

"Ginny, are you awake?"

The loud yawn she received did sound as if it had a ' _yeah_ ' in there, somewhere, so Rose turned over in her mattress to face Ginny. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Ginny said, turning towards Rose. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thank you! I'm just going to be straightforward here: do you have a crush on my brother?"

Ginny didn't answer, but Rose could make out the contour of the younger girl trying to sink further into her bed. She could just imagine the furious blush Ginny had to be sporting by now.

Deciding to take on a more comforting and understanding approach, Rose got up from her 'bed', which basically was just a spare mattress on the ground, and sat on Ginny's. "Look...I'm not mad at you or something like that. You can't help it, right?" Ginny still didn't answer and avoided looking at her. "You've been read those stupid stories, haven't you?"

"They aren't-"

"Maybe they are fun to read," Rose interrupted Ginny, "but they are still stupid because first, none of it comes even close to the boy Harry actually is and second, they made money from the fact that someone murdered our parents and tried to murder my brother the moment they could and we haven't even seen a Knut of that money. We should actually bring that up with Sirius at some point..."

"Oh. _Oh._ I'm so sorry, I never thought about it like that. I just…" Ginny trailed off, probably feeling even worse about her crush now.

Rose had to say though, that it actually felt good to talk to Ginny like that. She felt like she should have done that in her past life. A bit of a missed opportunity, considering they only started to build something of a friendly relationship during fifth year...even though she forgot about Ginny's possession. Not her proudest moment. "Don't worry about it. Just...the boy you have a crush on is not my brother. The boy you have a crush on doesn't even really exist. If you want to get to know Harry Potter then actually talk to Harry Potter. He's really nice or so I've been told."

Ginny just groaned at that, pressing her face into the pillow, muffling her voice. "He probably thinks of me as Ron's crazy little sister now…"

" _That's_ probably true."

* * *

Harry and she received their birthday wishes from everybody present at breakfast, their godfather included. It was a lively affair, very much Weasley, and she enjoyed herself immensely. Mrs Weasley's cooking didn't disappoint, as per usual, and Ginny tried to _actually_ communicate with Harry for the first time, which her brother was surprised about, but was quick to reciprocate.

After breakfast, Luna's father arrived with the wispy blonde. He thanked her profusely for the invitation and promised her a free Quibbler subscription for half a year. Ron was a bit disgruntled over having 'Loony Lovegood' present and Harry just shrugged, indifferent about it.

The three girls then went for a walk around the pond while Harry, Ron and the Weasley twins were having a Quidditch match between themselves.

"Thank you for inviting me," Luna finally said when they sat down in front of the pond. "I know you didn't have to."

"You're welcome. I just thought it'd be the right thing to do. I mean, you live right there," Rose said with a shrug. "Are you going to start Hogwarts too this year? I know Ginny is."

"Yes," Luna said with a dreamy smile, before looking at Ginny. "Careful, Ginevra. Ponds are full of _gobbling toechompers_. You don't want to lose your toes."

"I'll be careful. Don't worry, Luna," Ginny said with a friendly smile.

It was times like these that had Rose see certain things from her past life in a very different light.

Had it been Ron or Hermione with their feet in the pond and being warned about _gobbling toechompers_ , how would they have reacted? Ginny, who had been best friends with Luna for a while already, had, of course, a different sort of understanding when it came to the blonde.

And yet, it was still enough to make Rose wonder because it was just so inherently different to what she was used to from her past life. Ron would have scoffed, rolled his eyes and muttered about _Loony Lovegood_. Hermione would have gone off about how _gobbling toechompers_ did not exist and how Luna was wrong and the Quibble was a rubbish magazine.

It wasn't like Ron and Hermione had been bad people; far from it. They _were_ very opinionated, though. At the time, when she was friends with them, when she was Harry Potter, the centre of the _Golden Trio_ , she didn't really realize it. Or maybe she did but chose to ignore it. Whichever it was, she saw it _now_ and it wasn't nice.

They both had their own issues of course. Ron, the forgotten child among a host of infamous and successful brothers. Hermione, the goody-two-shoes, the bookworm, the teacher's pet, the know-it-all.

And then, Rose looked at Luna, _Loony Lovegood_ , the freak, the daughter of the Quibbler magazine's editor, the crazy girl.

One would think that being misfits, that feeling like you don't _really_ belong, that carrying the baggage you do would make you overlook other's oddities and quirks for the sake of togetherness, but, for whatever reason, that hadn't been the case with Luna.

Rose felt bad about that. Really, _really_ bad. So what if Luna talked about creatures that didn't exist, so what if her father was the editor of a magazine filled with outlandish conspiracy theories and other such things? Luna's acceptance into their group in her past life had come with too much reluctance.

"So," Rose began, gaining the attention of the two upcoming firsties, "what are you looking forward to most in Hogwarts?"

* * *

Their birthday was a huge feast. They had several tables and benches placed outside in the Weasley's big garden since they did expect quite a host of guests. Susan and Megan came too and Rose was overjoyed to see them again. She really liked these two girls and was happy to be such good friends with them. The more and more used she got to this whole 'being-a-girl'-business, the less uncomfortable she felt about _being_ a girl with _other_ girls. If that made sense.

While Mrs Weasley accepted Sirius's offer to help with the planning and to provide some of the ingredients for the dishes she wanted to cook, she did decline the offer to have Tappy help out with the cooking and serving. Rose could understand that. Mrs Weasley always did enjoy cooking.

There was lots of happy chatter going on as she and her friends exchanged their stories from their summer so far. Rose did her best to include Ginny and Luna and she was glad her fellow Puffs didn't mind one bit. Megan especially had taken quickly to Luna's eccentricities.

After most of those present were done eating, Rose and Harry did get some surprises which had nothing to do with their yet to be opened presents though.

"Rose, Harry!" Sirius called for them.

Rose excused herself from the group of girls, leaving the two youngest in Susan's and Megan's care, before walking over to her godfather with Harry.

"I wanted to introduce you two to some people who are very important to me. They are waiting inside," he said, leading them to the Weasley's kitchen.

Rose's mind was running a mile a minute, wondering about whom he could mean, but the possibilities were very limited anyway.

When they stepped inside, her questions were answered quickly the moment she saw Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and, next to Dora, a regal-looking woman with light-brown hair, whom she assumed to be Tonks's mother.

"This is Remus Lupin – _Moony_ when we are talking _Marauder –_ and he is a wonderful friend."

"You really have wasted no time there, have you, Sirius?" Remus shook his head in exasperation, but he was still smiling.

"I'm just passing on important knowledge, but don't worry, Rose has too much of Lily in her to really care for pranks."

"Try not to sound too disappointed," Rose commented dryly to the amusement of the new guests.

"No promises," Sirius quipped before continuing his introductions. "This is Nymphadora Tonks-" "Just Tonks!" "-who is my first cousin once removed and daughter of my first and favourite cousin, Andromeda Tonks."

"Hello," Rose greeted them with Harry when she suddenly thought of something she completely forgot about until now. "Sirius, Mr Lupin-"

"Just Remus, please."

"Sorry. Sirius, _Remus_ , could you two please mention the Marauders and the map when you are close to the Weasley twins?"

"Why?" Sirius asked confusedly, while Remus just looked suspicious. Harry, however, quickly caught on to what she wanted to make happen, so he dragged Sirius and Remus outside while looking awfully giddy.

Rose then turned to look at the two women with whom she was left in the kitchen. "The Weasley twins revere the Marauders like some sort of prank gods and are _really_ dramatic and theatrical. It should be very uncomfortable for Sirius and Remus."

"Is that so?" Andromeda wondered with a wry smile. "I wouldn't want to miss that. If you'll excuse me."

"Looks like it's just us," Tonks commented while watching her mother leave for the garden. "So...Sirius told me you are a Puff?"

And that was how she led Tonks outside to the other girls, introduced her to her fellow Puffs and celebrated the house-cup upset that was Hufflepuff's victory for a second time.

* * *

The trip to Diagon Alley went about as expected. They got their required school equipment, she got her broom – a Nimbus 2001, though according to Harry ' _the one changed digit at the end doesn't change the fact that I am the better flyer_ ' – Harry got hounded by Lockhart, Draco Malfoy appeared where he wasn't wanted, Misters Weasley and Malfoy had a fight, and Mr Malfoy took poor Ginny's transfiguration book out of her cauldron to look it over before putting it back with a snide remark how her family couldn't even afford to buy her new books.

Same old, kind of.

Nevertheless, things did change a bit. Or a lot, depending on how one looked at it. For instance, she had yet to see the diary since they returned from their shopping.

The fact that there was no Dobby at all during the summer made things already suspiciously different, but no diary at all would mean that things were _really_ _different_. That would be a major divergence from the events she remembered and leave her a bit blind in this life.

So, when she entered Ginny's bedroom late in the evening that day, she saw Ginny lying on her bed with one of her school books.

"Can I look at your transfiguration book?" she asked the youngest Weasley who looked at her with a curious expression.

"Sure, I guess, but...why?"

"It's the book Mr Malfoy took from you."

Ginny snorted at that as she sat up. "You think he did something to my book?"

"We are talking about the Malfoys here, Ginny," Rose muttered while leafing through the old school book before trying to shake the diary out from between the pages. "Did you look through this book yet?" she asked Ginny when there didn't seem to be any diary hidden between the pages.

"Yeah, but I think charms is going to be more–"

"No, I meant if there was anything in there, and if there was, did you take it out?"

"No? Seriously, Rose, I don't like the Malfoys either but hiding something evil in the books of an eleven-year-old girl would go a bit far, even for them."

"And you are being honest? You did not take anything out, you are not hiding anything?" Rose kept on pressing.

"Yes! What's going on?" Ginny looked genuinely confused now.

Rose sighed and put the book back on the desk. She decided to believe the younger girl for the moment, but she would keep a close eye on her.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Rose said before sitting on the girl's bed. "I guess I was a bit paranoid."

"That's okay, I guess…" Ginny replied a bit hesitantly, apparently not sure what to make of her line of questioning.

Not that Rose could blame her. It must have been a bit weird.

She couldn't help herself though. If things followed a certain script – the script of her past life – then she knew what to do, how to handle it, what to expect.

But this way, without Dobby and now without the diary...apparently, she didn't have any reference points and was as blind as everybody else. She was supposed to have the advantage of foreknowledge, but _that_ was only helpful for as long as things went the way they did before.

Things had obviously changed though. Was this the infamous butterfly effect she caused? Was revealing Quirrell and Voldemort – though Voldemort was mostly speculation to the public – the flap of the butterfly's wings, and now she was dealing with the fallout? She couldn't imagine anything else but her exposing Quirrell being the cause of these massive changes. Nothing else made sense.

It made her confidence waver a bit, she had to admit. The security of foreknowledge was a lot more fragile than she'd anticipated, and she was almost embarrassed at her own naivety.

And now she had to consider what the fallout of the missing diary would be.

Two things came immediately to mind, the first being Ginny.

She trusted that Ginny told her the truth, which meant that the youngest Weasley might actually end up having a good first year. She'd still keep an eye on her though. Better safe than sorry.

The second change would be that the Chamber of Secrets would remain closed. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but now she would worry constantly because it could get opened at any given time. The diary was a terrible weapon, and not knowing its exact whereabouts was anything but good for her nerves.

And thinking of the Chamber of Secret made her wonder about her parsel ability. Was she still able to speak it? She'd have to think of a way to test it at some point. Logically, it wouldn't make sense for her to have it, at least to her knowledge. Harry probably _would_ have the ability. She doubted it would be of any importance this time around since no diary meant no attacks, which in turn meant no duel club.

Not that _that_ club did them any good.

She was getting a headache. Being a time-travelling person who came back from the dead in a girl's body as the twin of the person she once was...was not easy.

"So, Ginny." She smirked at the girl. "How are things going with my brother?"


	11. Finishing Summer

It finally began. Or not so finally. It wasn't like she was looking forward to it or anything. It wasn't like she was _urging_ this day to come by faster. Saying _finally_ made it sound as if she had been desperately waiting for this day.

But that wasn't the case. Not at all.

And yet, when she woke up on the day before their return to Hogwarts, her nipples felt sore and tender, as did the area just behind them. Curious about that, she reached a hand to her chest, trying to get a literal feel about what was going on, and, upon touching the tiny hardened bump behind her nipple area, a gasp escaped her, her hand moved away as quickly as if it had been burned.

Her eyes were wide as saucers.

This was it. _This_ was _it_. She had finally reached _that_ stage with _this_ body.

Past Rose was a right bitch for leaving her to deal with this without mentally preparing herself.

At first, she could have ignored being a girl, aside from the most obvious things. _Yes_ , she had a vagina down there, but after a while, that novelty wore off quicker than she'd expected. Having to use the loo as often as she had, did help there of course.

Other than _that_ obvious difference – and her hair – there really wasn't much that made her feel more girly than simply like a child which hadn't hit puberty yet.

But now... _but now_ she was starting to grow breasts. _Breasts_! She didn't even get to _touch_ any during her Harry-Potter-life, aside from having Hermione press hers into his chest when hugging or Cho doing the same during that disaster of a kiss. But was that really _touching_ or more like _feeling through clothing without hands_?

And now she was growing her own! Granted, once they grew bigger, she could find out what actually _touching_ breasts would feel like, but would that even be the same? They'd be her own and she'd be touching them a lot anyway, right?

Rose clenched her teeth, still lying on her side on the mattress in Ginny's room.

This wasn't the time to think about touching her own breasts once they grew bigger! She concentrated, trying to get back to the actual crisis.

Yes, her breasts were budding. She'd entered puberty. She was starting to become a woman, and if things went the way they should, she would become a fully grown woman. An _adult_ woman.

She didn't even get to become an adult as Harry Potter, and here she was, growing into a woman, and she was likely to finish _that_ growth too.

Was it wrong of her to feel robbed in a way?

It wasn't like she actively _hated_ being a girl. Far from it, actually. She loved this new life. It was the memories of her Harry-life that made everything so bloody difficult – more difficult than it should be, considering how good _this_ life was compared to what she had before.

Having all those memories of a life long gone was a constant reminder of who she used to be, of what she was used to being, and even of what she used to feel at any given time in _that_ life.

She had no such recollections of Rose before _she_ became Rose. She simply winged it – successfully, most of the time. A few odd looks from _this_ Harry here and there were no big deal and easily handled. He never pressed further, but she knew he _wondered_.

But all of that meant that she had fifteen years worth of memories of being a boy while she had a bit over a year of being a girl. Of a girl who hadn't even reached puberty until just now. All of these weren't things and facts she could easily shake off and ignore.

Fifteen years worth of memories of being a boy and she was growing breasts and would get her period, which essentially meant that she could have babies and feed them.

Rose would like to say that crazier things had happened, but not even she would believe herself. Her situation _had_ to be among the wildest and most outlandish things to ever have happened to anybody.

She rolled onto her back and looked down at herself; the small outline of her buds was just about visible through her sleepwear, but visible nonetheless.

This really, _really_ sucked. It was like a major point of no return. She was actually, unequivocally a woman, and there was proof literally growing out of her.

Not even the proof between her legs had put her into such a state. Shouldn't it have, though? Shouldn't she have had more trouble than she did have with accepting a vagina as her new equipment down there? Maybe she really _was_ kind of quick to accept that because she essentially still had had the figure of a boy back then.

That was gone now, though, that mental protection.

Because of two little buds growing out of her chest. And her waist would narrow, and her hips would widen, and her entire shape would scream _woman_ at everybody. She was no boy. _She was a girl_. There was no way around it anymore, and dealing with this was not something she could burden another future Rose with again.

 _She was a girl_. She was not the _boy_ _Harry_ anymore. She would have to accept this, sooner rather than later. Because right now, her body was preparing itself to be ready to produce babies, and she didn't need another phase of semi-panic.

A sudden bloody mess between her legs would surely be enough on its own to scare her wits out of her.

 _She was a girl_. She nodded at herself. It was more symbolic than anything because her resolve was still shaken, and the nod itself accomplished little to nothing in changing that.

 _I'm a girl_ , she repeated in her head. _I'm a girl and I'm growing boobs. That's what girls do. I'm not Harry Potter. I just have his memories. I'm Rosie. Rose Potter. Harry's sister._

She slowly sat up and shrieked, nearly jumping out of her skin when Ginny's soft voice spoke.

"If I ever start growing those, I hope I won't have _your_ reaction."

"Bloody hell, Ginny!" Rose clutched her chest with a tiny wince at the tenderness, but she needed to calm her frantic heart down. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry! Sorry." The younger girl sounded anything but. "What's going on though? It's too dark to see your face but I could almost hear your panic just because of these," Ginny said while pointing at the newly visible buds just barely poking through Rose's pyjama top.

"Oh! It's silly…just…" _Think_ , _think_! "I just...never had any, you know, women explain this stuff to me and just…"

"Oh, okay. Don't worry, let's go talk to my mum!" Ginny scrambled out of her bed and took hold of Rose's hand, pulling her up. "She loves you guys, she won't mind if you have questions and stuff."

Ginny dragged her out of the room and down the stairs where the sounds of a woman heavy at work were meeting them. "I don't think–"

" _Muuum_! Rose's got some questions!"

They reached the kitchen a moment after Ginny's announcement, and it took Mrs Weasley nothing but a quick glance at her direction to understand what was going on.

Rose had no choice but to let herself be guided towards the kitchen table as Mrs Weasley was encouraging and comforting her.

"...so don't worry dear, it's all a part of growing up. Now, let me explain a few things to you…"

She wondered if there was a _Veil of Death_ somewhere close by for her to jump through.

* * *

Sports-bras were surprisingly comfortable, she had to admit as she stepped onto the Hogwarts Express. They'd spent their last day with only Sirius in Grimmauld, and he had apparated them onto the platform; no need to pass through the barrier this time!

The talk with Mrs Weasley, while mortifying, had also been quite informative, so it wasn't all bad. She had been scarred and would remember that talk for the rest of her life, but Mrs Weasley was kind enough to teach her how to find out which bra-sizes she needed and other such things that would have been lost on her.

Important information, all of that.

But now she was away from any such embarrassing things and instead on her way to finding her fellow Hufflepuff's compartment.

Once she found them, and after hugs and greetings were exchanged, she seated herself next to Megan who readily scooted over a bit to make room for her.

"How was your summer, Rose?" Ernie asked her once she got comfortable. "I hope everything went well with your godfather?"

She grinned at the thought of Sirius. "Yep! While Harry and I were still at Hogwarts, he completely renovated his old family home. It's brilliant! My room is fully decked in Hufflepuff colours, and he even got me a plant stand for my room because I told him how much I love herbology."

"That's really sweet," Susan said. "It must have been terrible to be stuck in Azkaban for ten years...and innocently no less! You three deserve this happiness."

"Thank you, Susan! That's nice of you to say."

"I know it's been in the Prophet and I've heard it mentioned in school but no one ever said _why_ Azkaban is so terrible," Justin wondered. There were mixed reactions going on; those whose roots into the magical world went deep – purebloods like Ernie or Susan because of her aunt – looked uncomfortable, while the rest looked as curious as Justin.

"It's because of the dementors," Rose finally answered after moments of silence.

"The what?" Justin asked, genuinely curious now.

"They are Azkaban's guards," Susan answered with a bit of resignation. "Auntie said that they are one of the worst beings to exist."

"Why?" Roger Malone asked; a muggle-born boy with whom she was friendly enough, but didn't talk that much over the course of the past year. He seemed nice though.

"They feed on any positive thoughts and feelings you have," Ernie continued, taking over the explanation. "All you are left with are all the bad feelings and emotions you can think of."

"Sirius said that it felt like he'd never be happy again. The only thing that kept him going for so long in there was his knowledge of his own innocence," Rose went on, mixing her own experiences from her previous life with what Sirius had told her. "They are without a doubt some of the worst things to exist."

"I've heard my mum talk about a dementor's kiss once, but when I asked her what that meant, she didn't want to tell me," Megan said and really obviously hinted at hoping that one of her more knowledgeable friends would.

"Being kissed by a dementor means...well…" Ernie hesitated and looked first at Rose, then at Susan, then at Hannah – who let them explain everything anyways – for help, but all of them avoided his gaze. He started it, so he could be the one to break that piece of disturbing news to their innocent friends. He sighed in resignation but took on the responsibility. "Being kissed by a dementor means that...that your soul has been sucked out of your body."

"But what exactly does that mean?" Lily asked, her initial shyness from when she began her Hogwarts adventure a thing of the past.

"You'll just be a husk," Rose said somberly. "You are never thirsty or hungry, sad or happy. You don't feel anything. You just... _exist_ until you slowly fade away."

"I wished I hadn't asked," Megan muttered, shivering violently. "That just sounds terrible, _really_ terrible. I'll just trust my mum's judgement from now on."

Understandably, the atmosphere in the compartment was a bit gloomy after that dreary talk. Dementors didn't have to be present to suck out happiness, it seemed.

"Sorry guys, I didn't expect my question to go where it went," Justin said sheepishly after a few minutes of everyone being lost in their own thoughts, and that was enough to lighten the mood a little.

And when the trolley lady came by a bit later, everything was the way it should be once more.

* * *

While she missed Sirius dearly, being back in the Hufflepuff common room with all its circular shapes, with its enchanted window providing the panorama of a beautiful spring meadow, with the pots of dancing and talking plants and flowers strewn all over...it just brought a sense of home of an entirely different kind.

She sighed happily as she plopped down onto her bed, bouncing slightly in the process.

Despite all her foreknowledge, _this_ particular sorting was a novelty to her since she had missed it in her past life. Ginny had been sorted to Gryffindor, much to the delight of her brothers, and Luna to Ravenclaw, much to the worry of Rose and sadness of Ginny.

Rose had hoped to have Luna at Hufflepuff since she would be pretty much alone among the Ravenclaws. If she remembered correctly, Luna had even been bullied over there. She hoped she'd be okay this time around. Otherwise, she would have to consult with Professor Sprout about her worries.

The feast had been as spectacular as always, and she felt that comfortable tiredness one would only ever get when they had eaten a lot of incredible food.

When she stripped down and proceeded to remove her sports bra, a little squeal made her raise a brow.

"You too?!"

"Huh?" She looked at Megan who was now showing off her own newly gained bra. "Oh, that? I guess?" She had done her best to stomp out those worrisome thoughts about her budding breasts. There was no point, after all. A morning of angst and talk about becoming a woman with Mrs Weasley had been more than enough to resign her to the fact that she would grow boobs.

"That's so exciting! I wonder who of us will end up bigger?" Megan thought out loud as she walked up to Rose, the other girls giggling all the while. "Have you tried out makeup yet?" she asked while standing shoulder to shoulder next to Rose, trying to get a sort of estimate on how their _bust sizes_ – there really was nothing yet, what was Megan getting so excited about?! – compared to each other. "My mum said that I should still wait a bit, but that it was my choice in the end and that I could experiment a bit if I really wanted. She showed me some stuff too when I asked her! We should really try out makeup together!"

"I…" This really was happening. She was going to spend a long time in a dorm-room together with a group of girls who were all on the brink, in the beginning, or in the middle of puberty.

Hannah had already started growing breasts in the middle of their first year and Sally-Anne even before _that_ , but they were at least less excitable than Megan about it.

Susan and Lily were still waiting for their turn.

And now there was also makeup-talk. All _she_ had to work with were the memories of her past life as a fifteen-year-old boy.

This was a lot, a _whole_ lot more than she could handle right now.

Sure, she didn't _need_ to try on makeup, she didn't _need_ to indulge in the really, _really_ girly things. But there was this confusing part in her that was curious about those things. Curious about dresses, curious about reading _Teen Witch Weekly_ , – she still rang with herself about getting a subscription for that – curious about experimenting with makeup together with Megan whom she considered to be one of her closest friends.

And she still wasn't sure what that part was. Was it this Rose-self's influence? How did it even work? At first, it didn't matter because she profited from its existence, but now…

How much of that body was actually _Harry?_ How much of _Harry_ was even _really_ in there? Was that _Harry_ -part of her maybe nothing more than a distant echo of a life once lived? Was it just a bunch of memories that confused her from what she really was?

She still felt like Harry, even as she was Rose, but how much Harry was in Rose and how much Rose in Harry? Where was the line? What separated, what bound these two parts of her being, these two entities? She felt pulled in two directions and had no idea how to deal with it – what to do with herself. Should she just indulge Megan, indulge her _self_ , whichever self it was?

She felt terrible for it, but she kind of found herself hoping to have things happen this year, just so she could be spared this whole confusing mess her mind found itself in.

"Sure," she heard herself say, her mouth having decided on what her mind couldn't. "Let's try out makeup soon, Megan."

Her friend's happy grin made the turmoil going on inside of her almost bearable.

_Almost._


	12. Confusing Professors And Tryout Weekends

Her bout of panic from the night before did take its toll on her. She didn't feel particularly well-rested and a bit sluggish. She was all too aware of her mental state not being a good one to be in, so she tried her best to put on a brave face and power through the angst that threatened to settle within her.

It was an all too familiar feeling she was experiencing: alone and adrift at sea on a makeshift raft against the rocking waves. It was very similar to her past life's fifth year; her against the world, but – and she never thought she'd say that – this time it felt even worse because it felt like she was fighting herself.

No, it didn't just feel like it: it was fact. She was fighting herself. Two parts of her warring with each other. She would have to sort it out at one point. Or very soon. It was driving her nutters, after all.

It could be easy. If she could just turn off that memory-part – not the memories themselves, but the part that insisted on being Harry Potter – if she could just turn _that_ part off and accept that she was _just_ Rose in this life who had memories of a _stranger_ which helped her here...if she could just have _that_ , her life would be _so_ easy.

But she was also Harry Potter in a past life, and Harry Potter, past life or not, didn't do easy.

She'd just have to power through.

* * *

"Is there a date for the Quidditch tryouts yet?" Rose asked as they walked to their first DADA class. She dreaded it, absolutely dreaded it. The man, the _fraud_ , was still as slimy, fake, and narcissistic as she remembered him to be. It was clear from the moment he had dragged Harry to his side in Diagon, relishing in the publicity stunt he had pulled while the press went wild over having _the_ Harry Potter and _the_ Gilderoy Lockhart standing side by side. It was a disgusting display, and after buying his books, she didn't even bother reading them. She knew what she could expect in this class: namely _nothing_ – better to focus on other things, like the upcoming Quidditch tryouts for the Puffs.

"Haven't seen anything hang out in the common room yet," Wayne said. His strawberry-blonde hair had grown quite a bit, and according to him, it hadn't been cut in almost half a year.

"So, you are really going to go through with that?" Lily wondered. "I've never seen you fly."

"I _can_ fly. Believe me."

"I've heard that fourth-year, I think...what's his bloody name," Oliver wondered, his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to remember.

"Oh, you mean that _really_ cute guy? Diggory? Cedric Diggory?" Sally-Anne offered, her smile dreamy as Rose blanched inwardly. _Cute guys_? And the other girls looked dreamy as well! They were only twelve! _Twelve_!

"Yes! That bloke! I heard he's going to try out for seeker as well," Oliver finished his earlier thought, pointedly ignoring the _cute_ - _guy_ - _talk_.

Rose shrugged at that information since she expected as much. "Doesn't matter to me. We'll both compete fair and square and the better seeker will win."

"True Hufflepuff spirit," Ernie said as he threw an arm over her shoulder. "The pride of our house."

Rose snorted at that and shook her head with a grin. It was all just a bit of goofing around, but it was fun and she loved it.

The door to the DADA classroom opened then, and she entered, inwardly cringing already at what she was about to experience. But as she looked around the classroom she felt herself do a double-take.

Something was not quite right here.

When in her past life Lockhart's DADA classroom was like walking into a bizarre, Lockhart-themed nightmare with portraits of him and his stupid award-winning smile hanging from every inch of the classroom's walls, _this_ DADA classroom was extraordinarily different:

There were still two portraits of him grinning and winking at them, yes, his narcissism was still active at least.

 _However_ , the rest of the classroom was decked not with Lockhart's face but with sketches of actual creatures – dark creatures – and illustrations of curses. A list of the topics they would go through this year in DADA was hanging on the door.

It was _nothing_ like she remembered. She started to regret that she avoided to at least take a peek at Lockhart's books, just to see if they were the same as in her last life. The titles were, she knew that from the list, but the contents? She hadn't read them.

"Welcome to my class, dear students," Lockhart greeted them, sounding as smooth, slimy, and charming as ever. He waited for all of them to find their seats and settle before he continued. "I believe most of you have at least heard of me to some extent," he began his introductory speech while standing in front of his desk. "In case you have not, allow me to formally introduce myself: I am Gilderoy Lockhart – adventurer, hunter of dark and dangerous creatures, and author of multiple bestselling books." His award-winning smile made her throw up a little in her mouth.

This was so, _so_ not what she remembered! While Lockhart kept going on with his introduction – at least he still loved to listen to himself talk! – Rose opened one of his books to peek inside, to see just _how_ different this Lockhart was. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets at the prologue chapter holding an incredibly detailed description of a banshee's nature, of what summoned them, and all other kinds of information she had never seen anywhere else.

Was this actually real? _Break With A Banshee_ in her last life began with over five pages detailing what Lockhart had been up to in his _private life_ since his previous published work!

She looked up from the book upon hearing the rustling of parchment and saw what was likely to be the infamous pop-quiz being handed out.

Things would be back to normal now. She'd have to answer useless questions about his favourite colours and other such–

 _Question 1:_ _Where in the world is the largest number of Vampires (sanguinem sugentem lamia) concentrated?_

_Question 2: Which are the Top 5 most dangerous monsters as rated by the standardized Magic Creatures Danger Index (discussed in Marauding With Monsters)?_

" _Bollocks_."

* * *

"This was so much better than last year! So informative," Ernie gushed while chatting with the others.

If by _informative_ Ernie meant confusing, then yes, Rose would agree, because right now all she felt was confusion.

This was not how this class was supposed to go. Lockhart was not supposed to be an _actually_ accomplished adventurer who had encountered hundreds of creatures during his travels. He was supposed to be a fraud, a _conman_ , who was good at a single spell and whose biggest fanbase consisted of middle-aged women who were creaming their knickers over him. Instead, she actually learned from his class and the classroom wasn't torn apart by a group of rampaging _Cornish_ _Pixies_.

Feeling completely blindsided by this unexpected turn of events, Rose was just glad that the day was over. Compared to last year's first day of classes, _this_ first day had been very draining, and now she could really do with some dinner.

They entered the Great Hall, and the chatter of the students greeted them like a comforting wall of noise – little things like these were what made Hogwarts _Hogwarts_.

While passing by the Gryffindor table, Rose waved at Harry who briefly looked up from the Gryffindor Table where he was engrossed in a conversation with his friends and, to her surprise, Ginny. They then arrived below the yellow and black banners and were on their way to a group of empty chairs, when Sally-Anne pulled at Rose's arm.

"There's your competition for the seeker spot," she said while hinting at the currently fourth-year Cedric. It was good to see him happy and healthy. The memories of having to hold onto his lifeless body so she could bring him back to Hogwarts grounds; the memories of Amos Diggory's anguished cries when he realized his son was gone...those were haunting and memories she wished she could erase from her mind forever.

But this was a different life and a Cedric who was happy and healthy with his friends, joking away and enjoying life as someone his age should.

"Seems nice enough," Rose said while following Roger, who led them to the empty chairs at the table. "I'm still going to get that seeker spot."

"You really seem awfully sure of yourself," Hannah mused.

"Just watch the tryouts and cheer me on. You'll see then," Rose said with a grin while eagerly loading her plate with _Shepherd Pie_ and veggies. "Gosh, I love these elves." She groaned in delight after swallowing her first mouthful.

"What elves?" Roger asked, giving her a confused look before his expression turned completely horrified. "This is not elf meat, is it?"

Ernie choked on his pumpkin juice after the question, his face red from laughing and coughing, while the others who knew what Rose was talking about also laughed and giggled.

"Come on guys, what is it?" Roger insisted, now slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, Roger." Hannah tried to placate him while still giggling. "Rose was talking about house-elves. They are the beings who work in the kitchen, bring our luggage to our dorms, and so on."

" _Oh_ , okay. Never heard of them."

"They are mentioned in _Hogwarts: A History_ ," Rose answered before taking another mouthful of her dish.

"Never finished reading it."

"I've read that some older families have their own house-elf. Is that true?" Lily asked.

Hannah nodded in confirmation. "My family has one. Appy. I love him, he's so sweet."

"My aunt had to contract one, too. She couldn't look after me by herself _and_ work in the DMLE," Susan explained.

"Sirius actually clothed his old family elf," Rose told her part without really thinking, which explained her surprised look at the shocked gasps and confused looks she received. "Oh. Oops." She chuckled bashfully at her forgotten filter. "First, a clothed house-elf is a fired house-elf. A piece of clothing means they are released from the contract of the family they worked for. As for the _why_...Sirius said that old elf was completely obsessed with his family...like, his cousins and brother, who all bought into the old Black motto."

"And what's that?" Justin asked, looking really curious and interested.

" _Toujours Pur_ , which is French for _Always Pure_ ," Rose explained. "Sirius said the Blacks were complete and utter blood-purists, really obsessed with their blood-purity. That old elf completely bought into all of that and apparently ranted at Sirius and called him his 'blood-traitor-master' and whatnot. That's what he told us anyway."

"That...is _crazy_." Ernie looked absolutely baffled at what Rose told them. "I've never even heard of a house-elf like that. Like...a blood-purist house-elf."

"And your godfather isn't like that?" Lily asked Rose, her expression both curious and concerned.

"Not at all. He is the sweetest and funniest guy you can imagine," Rose said fondly. "He was a Gryffindor while his whole family was Slytherin. He was kicked out of the house at sixteen and burned from the family tree. One of his cousins was actually burned from the family tree too, for marrying a muggle-born."

"Talk about rebels." Wayne chuckled.

"Sirius really seemed nice. Auntie never talked about the Blacks...at least not that I remember..." Susan looked thoughtful, then shook her head before smiling at Rose. "After meeting your godfather at your birthday party, I would have never imagined him to have had a family life like that."

"He doesn't talk about it either." Rose sighed, aware of just how heavily his childhood still weighed on him. The three of them – Sirius, Harry, and she – really fit together when it came to messed-up childhoods.

But they were happy together, and that was what counted in the end.

* * *

The rest of the week passed by quicker than Rose at first thought it would, considering how her start into the new term was less than smooth. The quickly piling up school work was a good distraction from her thoughts and inner turmoil, so she was welcoming the late afternoons in the library and common room instead of complaining like most of the other students. It wasn't like she enjoyed spending hours writing essays, but _that_ was simply better than the alternative.

When she entered the common room with her fellow second-years on Friday afternoon after finishing their homework in the library, she was greeted by the sight of several Puffs huddling around the notice board.

They were all so tall compared to her, so, with an annoyed huff, Rose had to wait for most of the crowd to disperse before she could see what that was all about.

And then, her eyes widened in giddiness.

Tomorrow morning, Quidditch tryout. _Finally_. After so long.

She quickly rummaged through her satchel for her quill, but a shadow looming over her, followed by the scratching sound of a quill on parchment, made her look up.

"You want to try out too?" Cedric asked her with a friendly smile.

"Actually, yes. Can I borrow that?" she asked, indicating at his quill with a nod of her head.

"Sure." He handed it to her, and, without further ado, she quickly added her name and year next to Cedric's in the column for the seeker spot. Just the two of them were competing for that particular position, she noted with no small amount of amusement.

"Thank you," she said after handing him his quill back.

"So you are my competition for tomorrow?" he mused, his friendly smile still firmly etched on his lips. It didn't even _look_ fake. It was just who he was: a genuinely friendly bloke.

"Yep."

He cocked his head to the side. "You are Harry Potter's sister, right?"

"That's right. And you are the fourth-year my dorm-mates are all swooning over, right?" She didn't even try to hide the grin at the shocked and betrayed gasps she heard from the girls, Sally-Anne even going as far as to shout _traitor!_ in her direction.

Cedric took it with humour and a laugh before shrugging it off. "It's not like I'm looking for the attention. Anyway," he continued, indicating the end of their first chat in this new life of hers, "if you can fly anything like your brother it'll be a difficult tryout for me. I'm looking forward to it. See you tomorrow!" With his unfaltering smile still there, he waved her goodbye before heading to his waiting friends.

Rose then turned to her friends. All five of the girls were glaring at her while the boys were nowhere to be seen.

"Look who it is," Sally-Anne began.

"The gall, showing your face like this after your shameless backstabbing," Megan all but hissed.

All Rose could do was to look unimpressed.

* * *

Rose's heart was hammering in her chest and her stomach was filled to the brim with butterflies.

It was time for Quidditch tryouts.

Megan was – after the dramatics and theatrics of the previous evening – friendly enough to braid her rather long hair, so it wouldn't flutter all over her face once she would be up in the sky. Rose had toyed with the thought of cutting her hair short, but Megan had quickly disabused her of that idea after an hour-long rant.

And now, donned in Hufflepuff training gear, she was waiting with quite a few other hopefuls on the pitch, Cedric one of them.

O'Flaherty, the team captain, then walked up from the dressing room with the other beater, Anthony Rickett, who was the only member of the previous team she had kept. Rose _could_ see why Maxine decided to keep him; the two of them were a devastating pair. The team's problem had been the lack of scored points and of even a single caught snitch.

"Alright everybody," Maxine began, staring them all down with very critical eyes. "The Quidditch season last term was...unfortunately...abysmal. Which means that this year's tryout will be even more brutal and even more ruthless. Just because we are Puffs doesn't mean that crocodile tears will sway us into allowing you on this team. If you aren't good enough, you will not play. As we are all Puffs, I expect all of you to respect Anthony's and my decisions and accept your personal defeats with dignity. We all want to forget last term's humiliating season, so the best have to play. Are we clear?"

Quite a few enthusiastic _yes!_ followed Maxine's speech, and Rose briefly wondered if she rehearsed that one the same way she had rehearsed the speech she had given Rose and the other firsties last term.

Since there were only the beaters left to oversee the tryouts, most of the applicants for the team had to wait for their chance to show themselves. The keepers and chasers could showcase their skills together, and after a cruel and draining session of two hours, the first four spots were finally given away.

Tamsin Applebee, Heidi Macavoy, and Malcolm Preece got the chaser spots while Herbert Fleet became the new keeper.

Now only the seeker spot was left to be claimed, and Rose couldn't wait.

"Alright, only two seekers to choose from. Let's hope you've got the stuff," Maxine said as she approached Cedric and her.

"This'll be pretty straightforward," Anthony took over from Maxine. He was a stocky boy with dark skin and short-cropped, curly hair. "Maxine and I aim bludgers at you while the two of you catch the snitch."

Straightforward indeed.

"Good luck, Potter," Cedric said and held out a hand.

She took the offer with a grin, shaking his hand. "Good luck to you too, Diggory."

Rose's grin grew wider at her friends cheering her on, but once she was in the air, it all became mere white noise.

This feeling of being one with the sky and wind was so unbelievably and familiarly freeing – the kind of memory she could handle and wanted to handle.

Nothing confusing about it. Just beautiful simplicity.

Unfortunately, she couldn't truly indulge herself yet because she had a seeker spot to claim.

* * *

Cedric truly was a talented flyer and made up for his slower broom with clever positioning, situational awareness, and a great eye for the snitch. They played a two-out-of-three competition for the spot. They had each won a round so far and were currently scouting the Quidditch field for the snitch while dodging the bludgers aimed at them with deadly precision from the Hufflepuff beaters. Rose marvelled at the power Maxine was apparently hiding in that short body.

Cedric kept positioning himself horizontally a ways in front of her. The moment she'd see the snitch he'd know and have a shorter distance to fly.

This went on for some time – dodging bludgers and looking for the elusive and winged golden ball – before Cedric suddenly shot forward, prompting a reaction out of her.

He was a good flyer, but so was she, _plus_ she had the size advantage and weight advantage on top of a faster broom.

She was closing in quickly, her eyes finally catching sight of the snitch fleeing from Cedric. He stretched out his arm, and she was willing herself and her broom to fly faster.

She was now side by side with him, stretching her hand out to the snitch herself. Now her size had become a disadvantage as Cedric's reach was superior to hers. The snitch started to fly dangerously close to the ground – she could almost taste the grass.

She felt the snitch's wing beat against the palm of her hand, and suddenly Cedric's hand closed around hers. His hand made hers close around the beating wing while she saw the _rest_ of the snitch _and_ her hand disappear in his. They both struggled for it, neither willing to let go of their ticket for the seeker position.

A tug-of-war between them ensued while they were still flying at high speed. Cedric kept holding on, both to the snitch and her hand. Their knees and arms kept bumping against each other before, and with a sudden jolt, they were launched forward off their brooms. Her hand was still clasping the sole wing – she couldn't let go even if she wanted to – and she was tumbling face-first towards the ground. She landed heavily and felt Cedric fall down next to her too, both _still_ holding onto the snitch.

"Didn't see the ground," Cedric muttered and she felt a tug at her arm. She pulled back. And it continued like that – their flying tug-of-war turned into a regular on-the-ground-tug-of-war.

"Let go!" Rose growled as she tried to free her hand and the snitch. "I had it first!"

"No, you didn't!" Cedric replied, and she gave him a disbelieving look.

Maxine and Anthony landed next to them, surprised looks on their faces, and the rest of the newly formed team jogged up to them from the stands. The presence of others made them stop.

"Well?" the captain asked with a raised brow and her hands on her hips. "Who won?"

Rose opened her mouth to answer but closed it again. She wasn't exactly sure who won. Was it a tie?

"It's a tie," Cedric answered.

So, apparently, it was a tie.

"That's a new one," Anthony muttered, scratching the back of his head. "What now?"

"Another round?" Maxine offered with a shrug.

Cedric though shook his head, finally releasing her hand and the snitch. "I don't think it'd be fair to either of us. I wouldn't mind sharing the position though. We are both very decent flyers, in my opinion, and we both deserve to be on the team."

"Fine by me," Anthony said. "Potter?"

"Okay...I guess? We are both good enough for the spot, so...I'm fine with it too."

"Alright, as long as one of you appears for the games," Maxine said, effectively giving her okay.

Cedric grinned happily at that, obviously proud, before he addressed Maxine with the next obvious problem. "So, how do you want to decide who plays?"

Maxine cocked her head to the side thoughtfully for a few moments. She then narrowed her eyes, a small smirk on her face. "You decide that between the two of you since it was your idea."

Rose's head immediately filled with all sorts of ideas.

She was going to like this.

This might turn out to be a fun year yet.


	13. First Blood And Hufflepuff Justice

Back in her past life Rose would never have expected to be in the situation she found herself in right now, but, well, her existence was a big bag of crazy anyway, so here she was.

She did promise after all. She may be reluctant – or maybe not reluctant, but undecided, still warring with herself – but she _did_ promise.

She could say with confidence that Megan was happy at least. Her bright and eager smile was proof enough. Still, she had no clue what she was supposed to do here. All she was seeing were a bunch of makeup-things strewn across her bed, as well as a bunch of girls. Apparently, all the other girls wanted in on their _fun_.

And thus, her bed was crowded with twelve-year-old girls and makeup and the latest issue of _Teen-Witch-Weekly_.

No, in her past life she'd never have expected herself to _ever_ be in this situation.

She'd really rather be facing Voldemort right now.

But, quite sometime later, when she was standing in the bathroom, she had to admit: it didn't turn out to be as horrible as she expected it to be.

The other girls seemingly had at least a little bit of experience with that stuff. Rose, however, did not.

How could she have?

Her only memories which she did _not_ make here after her return to life, were of her past life and she was a bloke there. Here, she only had Petunia as a female reference point, and well, that was pathetic, to be honest. Thankfully, Megan and the other girls were very patient with her – both with her reluctance and lack of any experience. Rose wasn't really comfortable throughout the entire thing, but she _did_ promise, so she let them have their way with her.

It wasn't _all_ bad. They were happy to lend her a hand when it was her turn to try out applying makeup since she didn't even know where to begin. The girls were surprisingly quick-handed when it was _their_ turn though, and Rose was even asked for her opinion here and there, which she happily provided, but the main attraction was still _her_.

She wasn't sure why _that_ was the case, but if she had to take a guess, it would probably be her complete and utter obliviousness when it came to these kinds of things.

It couldn't be helped.

The girls had their fun though, and _that_ was a fact which made the whole experience a lot easier. And it wasn't just all about which colour of which makeup-thing would go with her hair colour or skin-tone or would bring out her eye-colour best. They talked about everything – which also included boys, but Rose was just quiet for the most part there – and, at the end of the day, it just felt like a different kind of bonding experience.

She found herself laughing and giggling with them. She found herself just listening with a smile on her face, she found herself sitting still while Megan and Sally-Anne used the appropriate charms to get the makeup on her face, and she did so without complaining once.

She really imagined it to be way worse.

There _were_ definitely activities she'd have rather done in those...three? Or four? hours, but it was okay. She'd surely survive if she found herself doing this every other Sunday with her dorm-mates – with her _friends_.

And while she was eyeing herself in the bathroom mirror, she had to admit that she did kind of look pretty. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of makeup on her face – it wasn't the most comfortable feeling – but this little bit...she could go with that. Granted, it looked far from sophisticated and their charms work still needed a lot of training, but her friends didn't do too bad of a job with her.

With a sigh, followed by the whispered incantation provided in _Teen-Witch-Weekly_ and a flick of her wand, she removed the makeup from her face.

There was still some time before either of them should really, _seriously_ be thinking about makeup. None of them even had their periods yet.

Rose shuddered at _that_ thought. She hoped that was still some years away for her.

Rose then proceeded to eye her fingernails, which the girls had coloured beige. It did look pretty.

With a shrug, she headed back into the dorm-room.

* * *

Over the course of the rest of September, life once more returned to its familiar and comforting Hogwarts routine. A lot of time between classes and Quidditch training was spent in the library doing homework, and when she wasn't there, she simply enjoyed spending her time around her friends.

Her mind would still be occasionally occupied by the diary's whereabouts, by Dobby's lack of trying to save Harry through killing him, _or_ by her own personal problems, which really only was the war between her memory's insistence on who she used to be and the person she _actually_ was now.

It was a complicated situation to be in, but being surrounded by the people who had become her friends – _her extended family_ – was a boon and kept her grounded. In her memory, maybe even mentally, she was older than any of them, but sometimes she felt as if she was actually twelve. It was weird how the brain worked. It was even weirder how dying as a fifteen-year-old boy and being resurrected into the body of a ten-year-old girl worked. Her whole existence was like one bizarre piece of fiction.

It could have been worse, though.

* * *

A sudden flash of light illuminated the dorm-room, giving Rose a rude awakening, and if the annoyed mutterings of the other girls were any indicator, she wasn't the only one. A whimper, followed by a ' _bloody hell_ ', finally had Rose awake enough to sit up while trying to blink away the sleep from her eyes.

"Wha's go'ng on?" she muttered sleepily.

"Uhh, could one of you wake up Professor Sprout?" Sally-Anne spoke up, and Rose guessed she was the one who woke them up. "I think I've started my...you-know-what."

Rose blinked again, trying to see past the blinding light of _lumos_ coming from Sally-Anne's direction. It was _then_ she understood what was going on and her eyes widened comically at the bloodied mess that was the poor girl's pyjama bottoms and bedsheets.

"I'll go get Professor Sprout," Lily offered and quickly left their dorm-room to wake up their Head of House.

"This is so icky," Sally-Anne complained. "And it hurts!"

"You need to go get cleaned up," Megan said while helping their friend up.

"How do we get the house-elves to change the bed mattress and everything?" Rose wondered, wanting to be helpful too. She was of no use to anybody if she just remained frozen over a natural monthly occurrence of female biology. Even if it looked as scary as it did.

"I don't know," Hannah mused as they watched Sally-Anne walk to the bathroom.

A blink of an eye later, after Hannah finished her reply to her question, Sally-Anne's bed looked fresh and new, making Rose blink in surprise.

"Looks like we just have to wonder." Susan giggled just as Lily returned, following their Head of House who was holding a bunch of hygiene products in her arms.

She wished she could just skip her period somehow.

* * *

The following morning things went mostly as usual. They went from class to class, had lunch in between, and chatted the time away in front of a classroom when waiting for the respective teacher to let them in.

All throughout, however, Rose found herself looking at Sally-Anne. For whatever reason, Rose started seeing her differently since she started her period. Superficially, outwardly nothing changed. Sally-Anne was still Sally-Anne. Chatty, bubbly, happy Sally-Anne.

But, in Rose's eyes, she had _changed._ In Rose's eyes, Sally-Anne had become a reminder of what was waiting for her in the near future.

Over the past month, Rose was floating above those worries. Sometimes she would touch them, briefly, but most of the time they were _barely there_. Classes and Quidditch and all sorts of other distractions had kept her occupied well enough that she didn't think about them all that much.

Now, though, with the bloodbath in Sally-Anne's bed, she had to witness in the middle of the night, it was all back at the forefront of her mind.

It was scary.

It should be something natural for her. It _should_ be. She _was_ a girl – there was no denying _that_ fact. She had a girl's body and was growing breasts and had a vagina. Her memories could make her as conflicted as they wanted, but _she_ _was_ _a_ _girl_.

And yet, that knowledge didn't do anything to stop her from dreading what was to come for her. It should be natural, but it didn't feel that way. She was a girl, but her memories kept stopping her from accepting that blatantly obvious fact.

Being a girl was becoming simultaneously easier and more difficult.

Things shouldn't be so bloody confusing.

* * *

"Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw is in two weeks," Wayne said. "Who's going to be seeker?"

"Don't know yet," Rose muttered as her quill was scratching over the piece of parchment. "I might let Cedric have the first match so he'll let me play against Gryffindor. I really want to play against Harry."

"Fair enough." Wayne shrugged. "What about the last match though?"

"I'll think of something then. Still a few months away." She resumed her writing and, with a final dot, finished her essay. " _Finally_ ," she sighed, stretching her back and enjoying the series of _pops_ running up and down her spine.

"How are you always so fast?" Oliver complained, looking at her as if she had betrayed him somehow.

"It's herbology. The only one who's able to keep up with me there in our year is Neville Longbottom." She really had to explain that?

"Yeah, but still…"

"It just comes easier to me than any other class," she said with a shrug while putting her things into her bag before getting up from her chair. "I'll leave you guys to it then," she said, receiving mumbled and tired _byes_ in return.

It was late in the evening when she was finally finished with all of her homework and ready to leave the library. It had been an odd week, admittedly, but she could safely say that she had managed to relax somewhat. Her period _was_ going to catch up with her sooner or later, there was nothing she could do about that. Better to just come to terms with it and accept it. It might scare her, but such was her biology in this life.

Her bladder decided it needed her to head to the loo first, so that was what she did, and only after she had washed her hands, did she hear the silent sniffles coming from one of the stalls.

Could it be Hermione again?

"Hello?" The sniffles stopped, which made Rose only more curious. "Are you okay?" she asked into the bathroom.

She hesitantly walked back towards the stalls, and her head reared back when she saw bare feet.

Wandering with bare feet in school. It was familiar, and she had to rack her brain a bit, but it clicked, thankfully.

Luna. It had to be Luna.

"Luna, is that you? Are you okay? It's me, Rose. Ginny's friend?"

The sniffles seemed to grow worse, and for a moment, Rose was starting to panic, but then the door to the stall opened, and the wispy blonde almost flew into her arms, breaking down completely. In her past life, this would have been incredibly awkward for her, unthinkable almost. She as Harry Potter, comforting a crying, heartbroken girl? She would have tried, certainly – she was a nice bloke! – but she would have felt so awkward about it. Here and now though, as Rose Potter, this felt surprisingly and oddly natural.

And Rose felt her own eyes start to sting as she held onto the crying firstie. She couldn't remember Luna ever crying in her past life. Was it always like this for her? Hiding away in a bathroom so she could at least feel safe enough to just cry? Did she always just pretend that the bullying wasn't bothering her all that much? There were so many questions running through her head right now, and she wasn't sure how to answer any of them. At least Luna seemed to be trusting her.

It had taken the blonde some time to finally calm down again. Rose just kept holding her.

"Thank you," Luna said after a while before retracting herself from Rose. "You are quite nice."

"I try," Rose said with a smile before her expression turned serious. "I want you to be honest with me, Luna. Where are your shoes?"

Luna didn't answer at first and instead looked down, avoiding her gaze.

"You can trust me," she said gently, but with urgency. "Are you being bullied?"

"It's nothing. They are just joking."

Rose huffed. "I don't know who _they_ are, but if they make you cry and – did they take away your shoes? Well, that's not how you joke with people." She then proceeded to take off her own shoes, shuddering a bit as the cold floor bit into her feet even through her socks, and handed them to Luna. "Here. I don't want you to get sick. We are going to Professor Sprout."

"That's not necessary, I'm okay," Luna insisted but didn't protest further when Rose dragged her along after she put on the offered pair of shoes.

Rose was actually seething. It was _unbelievable_ that all of this happened just a month after Luna started her first year at Hogwarts. Who knew, maybe it went on for even longer and only now someone finally caught on? By chance, no less!

She wondered if the Luna of her past life just became sort of used to all the bullying she had to go through. She'd imagine that some people would just build up a kind of immunity to this sort of thing. She hoped that the DADA was still a sort of reprieve for the blonde, that it made her feel included. It was just too bad that it had taken her so long.

Once she reached her Head of House's office, she knocked on the first door using the necessary rhythm before heading in and knocking on the next door. "Professor Sprout is very nice, so don't worry, okay? Just be honest, tell her what's going on. She can't do anything regarding your house but she'll definitely talk to Professor Flitwick and he is very nice too. Let's go in then," she said with an encouraging smile for the nervous-looking blonde when the door to her Head of House's office opened.

It was time for some Hufflepuff justice.

* * *

The next day, during breakfast, Rose took a peek at the house-cup points, and a satisfied smirk appeared on her face. Overnight, the claws had dropped from their second spot to dead-last. Flitwick must have been _furious_. Meanwhile, Sprout had been so proud of her and had given her a nice fifty points.

Served them right.

Luna had been very reluctant at first, probably out of fear for retaliation. It was a valid concern, without a doubt, but it was more important to make the staff aware that there even _were_ these kinds of issues going on. Keeping everything to oneself until a boiling point was reached was unhealthy, as proven by the fifth year of her past life.

To be fair though, that fascist-ministry-frog-lady had made things _a lot_ harder than necessary.

Still, in the long run, Rose _knew_ that getting this out in the open so early would help Luna. She would also make sure to tell Ginny about it and her brother and his friends too. Her own social circle was already in the know. If nothing else, showing that other houses cared more for a Claw than said Claw's own house might give them a sort of reality-check.

Looking at the Ravenclaw table, Rose sighed after seeing Luna sit by herself, but at least she seemed to be in better spirits than yesterday. Seeing that _someone_ cared could do that.

Rose and her friends sat down at their own table and started their breakfast, chatting away the early morning.

As precise as clockwork, the morning post arrived, the mass of owls circling a bit over the tables before finding the recipients of their mail.

Rose's _Daily Prophet_ landed in front of her, and she paid the owl its due with a strip of bacon before it flew off. She then unfolded the paper before choking on her pumpkin juice at the big, fat headline glaring at her:

_Bellatrix Lestrange (neé Black), convicted Death Eater, found dead in her Azkaban cell!_

She reread the headline multiple times and still came to the same conclusion:

_Bloody what?!_


	14. Things Are Weird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First actual chapter I've written since November. I hope you guys will enjoy it. I also hope that everyone is staying at home and that everyone is healthy and well. Big thanks to my beta Peiniger, who once again was a huge help and who was eager to pick up where we left off. Thank you!
> 
> A side-note: Apparently, Cedric was a sixth-year in GoF, which would make him a fourth-year here. So far, I had written about him as a fifth-year here in this fic, so I went back and changed those remarks of "Cedric, the fifth-year" to "Cedric, the fourth-year".

Rose tried not to smile at the news.

_Good bloody riddance._

With a quick shake of her head, she mentally scolded herself. Yes, she was capable of hating people, but still, that didn't mean she took pleasure in death – especially when it was somebody else dying, no matter how evil they were. That wasn't her.

But yes, Bellatrix was dead – or so the Daily Prophet said. Rose certainly hadn't expected _that_ when she'd taken a peek into her newspaper. Just like that, her brief high after helping out Luna the day before vanished and she spiralled into being _Harry Potter_ again, into obsessing over things which were pretty much out of her hands.

How that evil woman suddenly died was the big question that kept repeating itself inside her head. Was it an inside job? Was it sickness? Why did it happen in this reality but not in her original reality? Which change she'd brought upon this reality was the prompting catalyst setting this huge divergence into motion? What was going to happen next?

Since Death had returned her to life in _this_ reality, things were sailing pretty smoothly. She could rely on the knowledge from her past life. Now though, with the start of her second Hogwarts year in _this_ life, things got weird...er. First, no Dobby and no diary, then this super-competent Lockhart – which had her freak out quite a bit – and now Bellatrix's death.

Granted, it was a good thing to happen, without a doubt. Bellatrix Lestrange had been a terrible woman. More than even that, she had been a complete and utter nutcase, someone who had been completely devoted to blood-purity-rhetoric and -ideology, and to Voldemort's cause. The fact that she was dead was a good thing. It made this world a better place and it took away one of Voldemort's most trusted and loyal followers.

It was how things got more and more different from what she remembered that made her nervous. Considering the things she had already changed during her first Hogwarts year of this reality, it wasn't all that surprising, but the growing lack of certainty was a bit scary, she had to admit. Her life as Rose Potter was quickly reaching a point where she could not rely on her foreknowledge of certain events anymore.

Rose had a feeling that, very soon, she would be as blind as everybody else. Soon, she would just be an average girl living in this reality. The fact that she used to be Harry Potter in another reality – sent back by Death as Rose Potter into _this_ reality with all the memories of her previous existence – would be an insignificant side-note. What good were memories of her previous existence if they had no use in this one?

Memories of being Harry Potter or not, at this point, she was simply a normal witch – or as normal as a wizard turned witch could be.

She put the newspaper back onto the table and was glad to see that most of the others were just as engrossed in the article as she had been. Which meant she could hopefully avoid being asked uncomfortable questions.

"Can't believe that woman is dead," Susan muttered, her usual friendly and warm demeanour replaced by stiff shoulders and a deep frown.

Rose couldn't blame her either. "Was...was she one of the ones who...you know…?" She cringed inwardly at her own words, but she was curious if Lestrange had been one of the Death Eaters who killed most of the Bones family.

Susan looked up from the newspaper and shook her head slowly. "No...Lestrange wasn't one of them...still...the world is a better place now than before, isn't it?"

Quite a few were agreeing with nods and mumbles, Rose being one of them. The world _was_ better off without that woman, after all. She almost felt guilty for thinking so.

It really didn't feel nice to think that way about another human being – no matter how evil they had been – but she just couldn't help herself. Considering what Bellatrix, along with others, had done to Neville's parents and considering that Bellatrix was the reason Sirius had died in the other reality, Rose really couldn't blame anybody for being more relieved than anything else that she died.

No, with Bellatrix's death, the world became a better place.

She looked over to the Gryffindor table and couldn't help the sad smile appearing on her face upon seeing Neville sobbing in Hermione's arms, Ron and Harry comforting him with awkward pats on his back. The Golden Trio looked very confused since, if nothing had changed _there_ , they wouldn't know the impact Bellatrix had had on Neville's life. Still, it was good to see that Neville had at least some people to rely on. She couldn't imagine how emotional the news must be for him, considering how Bellatrix was one of the reasons why he essentially was an orphan.

She also wondered how Sirius was feeling after this news. Did he even care? No matter how distant and broken a family was, it was _still_ family. While she might despise the Dursleys with every fibre of her being, she wouldn't want them dead. She wouldn't even wish them harm. The way it was now was perfect, with them permanently out of her and Harry's life.

But that was how _she_ felt. She knew Sirius was not particularly fond of his family and what the name Black stood for. But still, it would not be entirely outlandish for him to feel _something_ over yet another death in his family.

She vowed to send him a letter later today.

* * *

The mysterious death of one of the most infamous followers of Voldemort was quickly forgotten as soon as breakfast was over.

Rose may not have exactly forgotten it, but the quick acceptance was there and the surprising news was pushed to the back of her mind. It wasn't an easy feat, considering how she felt that burning desire to uncover the circumstances of Lestrange's death, but there simply was nothing she could do.

So, instead of obsessing over something that was out of her hands, she focused on this weird and different Lockhart, who was currently explaining the origins of the Parseltongue to the class. With furrowed brows, she wondered what that had to do with anything from the DADA curriculum. Rose doubted that knowing about Parsel was something the department in charge of education, whatever it was called, put any importance into. On top of that, Parseltongue was not a topic mentioned in the planned curriculum for this second-year DADA class, which was hanging on the inside of the classroom's door.

And while speaking to the class, this Lockhart appeared weirdly knowledgeable. Rose didn't know how to handle this particular change. A dead Bellatrix Lestrange? That was a boon and, while sudden and surprising, easily acceptable. A Lockhart who actually seemed to know what he was talking about, even when it came to more obscure and unique magical traits and abilities? It genuinely freaked her out.

"...and this is when this very unique trait was traced back to Salazar Slytherin himself. But enough anecdotes about magical history." Rose cringed inwardly at his fake laugh. At least _that_ still sounded the way she remembered it. "Let us move on to the MCDI – the Magic Creatures Danger Index – and the creatures listed in it. I was quite pleased with how many of you have answered the question correctly in our little pop-quiz. Those who did not – you will know once you get the quiz back – please reread _Marauding With Monsters_."

She wasn't sure if she just imagined it, but she was sure his eyes were flicking fleetingly in her direction. Was she the only one who answered that one wrong? She sure hoped not. It would be bad enough to almost certainly be the one with the lowest score.

* * *

"I thought he was a fake!" Rose defended her decision to not at least take a look at Lockhart's book after she and her friends made their way to the Great Hall. Her cheeks felt hot with embarrassment from the moment she saw her score – _D_ for _Dreadful_ – and the reactions from her friends, which ranged from surprise to outright laughter, made it worse.

At least she didn't get a _T_ for _Troll_.

And at least the marks wouldn't actually count.

"How did you ever reach that conclusion?" Ernie mused while trying – and failing – to suppress a laugh.

_Because in another reality he actually was a fake!_ "Because everything about him screams fake!"

"Well, that's vague," Megan said with a chuckle as they were sitting down at the Hufflepuff table for lunch.

Rose let out a pained whine while loading her plate with _Yorkshire Pudding,_ sausages and gravy. "I've got so much catching up to do…"

"I'm sure you'll catch up quickly on the material," Hannah said with an encouraging smile.

Rose returned the smile with one of her own. She probably needed to readjust her approach to this reality and accept it as an existence of its own. So far, she saw it as a reality which mostly was the same as what she remembered – something she wasn't even wrong about – but the more time passed here, the clearer it became that at least certain details differed greatly. Gilderoy Lockhart and Bellatrix Lestrange were the latest examples.

"Rose, is Malfoy looking at you?"

With her cheeks bulging from the piece of sausage she was chewing, she turned to give Lily a questioning look. Her potions-partner pointed discreetly towards the Slytherin table. Rose, however, didn't bother hiding anything and just plain turned in her chair to look at where Lily was pointing. To her surprise, Draco Malfoy had indeed been staring at her – up to the point when he realized he got caught out and quickly averted his eyes away from her.

"Weird," she muttered, then shrugged. He hopefully wasn't up to something. Or even worse, he hopefully hadn't somehow gotten wind of her abysmal pop-quiz result. The spoiled little brat wasn't her arch-nemesis anymore, and thank Merlin for that, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't somehow mess with her just because she was Harry Potter's little twin sister. She would have to keep an eye on him.

"Don't worry, we've got your back in case he's up to something," Oliver said.

"There isn't much he could actually do, you know?" Ernie threw in before pushing his empty plate away from him and patting his belly with satisfaction. "We are all just second-years and barely know any noteworthy spells."

She didn't really need to consider his words since he was right – they barely knew any magic. Worst he could do would be to hurl petty and childish insults at her direction and try to get some kind of reaction out of her but, surprisingly, as Rose, her temper was way more subdued than it was when she used to be Harry. As Harry, she more often than not lost her temper because of the smallest things. Now though, she was a very collected and calm person. She liked that.

"I'm not worried," Rose finally said and returned back to her lunch.

"He probably _is_ up to something – he's a Malfoy and they always are up to something," Ernie said, his voice filled with clear distaste, "but it'd hardly be anything harmful." Rose wondered if he just didn't like the Malfoy family in general or if there was history there.

Sally-Anne was just rolling her eyes at them. "He was just _looking at her_ , calm down. He probably just thinks she's pretty o–"

Rose spat out her mouthful of pumpkin-juice, dousing Justin, who was sitting across from her. Howling laughter from the boys and most of the Great Hall followed, joined by the shrieks from the girls closest to the spray.

Rose's face was feeling so hot that, for a fleeting moment, she wondered if it was as red as her hair. "Don't say things like that, Sally-Anne!" Her voice sounded several octaves higher than normal.

Sally-Anne looked genuinely affronted. "What's so bad about a boy finding you pretty?!"

Rose didn't even know where to begin, but the most obvious answer would probably be the best. "We are talking about _Malfoy_ here!" she all but hissed while wiping the juice from around her mouth with a napkin. Then, turning to Justin, she winced, even though an upperclassman had used the cleaning charm on him to make him presentable again. "Sorry, Justin."

He waved it off with a good-natured chuckle. "'s alright."

Giving him one last embarrassed smile, she turned back to Sally-Anne with narrowed eyes. "I don't want him to find me pretty."

"Sheesh, fine, Malfoy is hatching evil plans then." Her friend held up her hands in surrender, but the way she pressed her lips together, probably to suppress her laughter at her reaction, had Rose dread the coming days, weeks and maybe even months.

* * *

"Hey, Cedric."

Rose walked up to the table occupied by Cedric and several of his friends, who were busy slaving over their homework back in their common room.

"Hey there, Rose," Cedric said with a tired smile. "What's up?"

"Aren't you the girl who spat pumpkin juice all over that one kid?" one of Cedric's friends asked, eliciting snickers all around the table, and, while blushing furiously once again, Rose wondered why a fourteen-year-old would call a twelve-year-old 'kid'. It wasn't like there was a huge age-gap between them.

"I – yeah…" It wasn't like she could deny it. She now would be the girl who had spat pumpkin juice on somebody. With a sigh, she turned back to Cedric, who gave her a look mixed with pity and good humour. "Could I get the match against Gryffindor? I'd really like to play against Harry and I'd give you the Slytherin match in return. We can come up with something to decide who gets the Ravenclaw match."

"Sure, fine by me. Wouldn't want to take a match against your brother away from you."

She replied with a beaming smile. "Thank you! Make sure you catch that snitch against Slytherin then!"

He chuckled and gave a lazy wave when she turned to head back to her own group of friends. She hadn't had really all that many interactions with Cedric in the other reality, but even then, as Harry, she used to find him to be an extraordinarily nice bloke. Such a waste of a young life his death had been and it was good to see him enjoy his life like this, to see him thrive once again. She'd have to make sure that, this time around, he wouldn't die.

"What did you talk with Cedric about?"

Rose was startled by the suddenness of the question shooting out of Megan, followed by giggles from Sally-Anne and Hannah. "Huh?" She gave Megan a questioning look after sitting down next to her. "Just Quidditch stuff. I want to play against Harry, so I asked him if he would give me the match. I gave him the Slytherin match in return."

"That's boring. And disappointing." Megan huffed and returned back to reading through her Transfigurations essay.

"Okay…"

How was she going to survive living in a dorm with five pubescent girls? And how was she going to survive when being a pubescent girl herself was starting to turn out to be an even bigger mystery than a competent Gilderoy Lockhart or a dead Bellatrix Lestrange?


	15. Bloody Showers And A Duel Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! Being a single mum and student during Corona lockdown gave me no time for writing. Thanks for being patient! I hope you are all healthy and safe!

"What's going on?" Rose asked after seeing that some of the boys from her year were gathered around the notice board.

Oliver turned around and waved her over. "Lockhart's starting a duelling club."

 _Right_. In the other reality, _that_ had actually been a thing. She remembered distinctly how Snape had wiped the floor with Lockhart and how she had had her duel with Malfoy. It had been during that duel her Parseltongue-ability had become public knowledge to the student body of Hogwarts. And then she had become Slytherin's heir, which also had been her first real taste of how truly fickle everyone's opinions about her were. She couldn't help the bitterness settling once more in her stomach, the niggling doubt in the back of her head.

If history would repeat itself, would the school and the public turn against her – against this Harry – or would they stay by their side this time around?

There was no way to tell until those days would come, of course. Naturally, she hoped she wouldn't have to find out. Life was good and easy so far as Rose Potter and she'd prefer to keep it that way.

Rose shook her head and quickly pushed those thoughts away before being pulled from her reverie by the excited chatter of her friends.

"...so cool! _The_ Gilderoy Lockhart is going to teach us how to duel!"

It was funny how she couldn't even bring herself to roll her eyes at such an exclamation anymore. At this point, it probably wouldn't even be a surprise if _this_ Gilderoy Lockhart would _actually,_ _really_ end up teaching them how to duel. It would still be weird though.

"Aren't you excited?" Ernie asked her with barely contained excitement. It was an odd sight to see the usually pompous pure-blood with almost child-like giddiness.

"Curious? Yes. Excited? No. It's at least going to be an opportunity for me to see if Lockhart actually is a fraud or not."

"You are still on that?" Megan asked, joining them along with the other girls.

Rose huffed with her hands on her hips. "Yes, I am. The dates in his books are all wrong."

"Actually," Sally-Anne said, "in an interview with the Prophet a while back, he said he's terrible at remembering dates."

Megan giggled at that. "Did he mean date-dates or _date-_ dates?"

Rose rolled her eyes, ignoring the girl she had grown closest to out of all of the others. "Does it say when the first meeting is?" she asked instead.

"Next weekend at seven PM," Justin answered with a grin. "I wish it was this weekend! Can't wait to see what a magic duel is like – maybe like a Western?"

Rose chuckled at that, as did most muggle-borns and half-bloods who were familiar with that particular genre of movies. "Maybe a bit," she said with a wry grin. They kind of were, after all. She ought to know – Vernon loved those movies and when she had to clean the house while his fat bum was planted on his favourite sofa, she caught plenty of glimpses of his favourites.

At least what little she got to see from the duelling club in her past life looked like classic Western duels.

She wondered what it would be like this time. It was unlikely it would be any different from what she remembered, but she wouldn't know until the first session of Lockhart's new duelling club.

* * *

Rose knew she should have expected it because, after all, it had only been a matter of time. And yet, her body managed to catch her off-guard because it decided to start her period in the shower after Quidditch training next to several other girls – which seriously had been a nerve-wracking experience at first.

She only noticed it when the team captain, Maxine O'Flaherty, pointed at the blood running down her legs and into the drain, causing her eyes to go wide as saucers and her face to heat up something fierce. The mortification was something else.

Almost on autopilot did she finish up under the shower.

Too stunned, Rose didn't even notice all the chatter going on around her until Maxine put a towel over her shoulders, pushed her towards the lockers and rummaged through her bag to grab a sanitary pad and hand it to her. "You know how to use those?"

"Use what?" Rose asked after taking it, still wide-eyed.

"The pad, Rose," Maxine said with a raised brow. "The one you are holding right now."

Rose looked down at her hands and blinked at the feminine hygiene product she was holding in her hands. "Oh. Uh, yeah. Yeah, Professor Sprout explained some stuff when Sally-Anne started her... _period_."

...it felt so weird to use _that_ word _,_ now that _she_ had _hers_. She was actually bleeding down there because nature intended it to be so and this would go on for quite some time every month for about a week.

Maxine nodded at her. "Alright, you dry off then and put it on. If you need anything else, feel free to ask me or any other female prefect or, if you are more comfortable with Madam Pomfrey, feel free to talk to her."

Rose nodded, still half in shock, and grabbed a fresh pair of knickers from her bag. She then rushed into one of the toilet cubicles, closed the door behind her and took a deep, shaky breath.

Professor Sprout had used Sally-Anne's first period as a crash course in the use of feminine hygiene products – after tending to their friend, of course. So, after dabbing away any blood from down there with a wad of toilet paper, she unwrapped the pad and stuck it to the inside of her knickers, before quickly stepping into them and pulling them up.

It was... _not uncomfortable_. Sure, it certainly was different, but she imagined it to be worse.

Another shaky breath, and the realization that she could technically have babies now set in.

She used to be Harry Potter in another life. She used to be a bloke. Now her body was ready to have babies.

Rose had to stifle an almost hysterical laugh escaping her.

She knew this day would eventually come from the moment Death sent her into this reality as Rose, but despite that, it never felt like a real thing, it never was more than this nagging, occasional reminder from her brain. More often than not, she simply did not think about it. She was too busy with school and too content with life.

But now though...now her body was ready to have babies.

A knock on the loo's door jerked her away from her thoughts. "Everything alright, Rose?"

 _No!_ "Uh, yeah," Rose replied to Maxine's question while doing her best to keep her voice steady. "I'll be out right away."

She took another couple of breaths. Then, after wrapping the towel tightly around herself, she unlocked the door to see a slightly worried looking Maxine waiting there for her.

"Are you sure you are alright?" The prefect asked, her head slightly cocked to the side. "You look kind of freaked out."

"A bit, maybe," Rose admitted with a nervous chuckle.

Maxine waved her hand dismissively. "Don't be. It's perfectly natural and just another indicator of you growing up. See it as one of many milestones of becoming a woman!"

 _Part of the problem, Maxine._ "Yeah. Thanks." Rose put on a brave smile and wondered what would be the next supposed milestone.

She sure hoped it wouldn't be blokes fancying her.

* * *

The days following the start of her menstruation had her quickly fall into a familiar routine. It consisted of changing pads every three to four hours and getting used to unexpected, but thankfully mild cramps. She also had to learn just which brand of pads was best for her, something which made her delve into regions she never expected. There were tampons too, of course, but first, the – albeit low – risk of a toxic-shock-syndrome freaked her out; secondly, she wasn't sure how uncomfortable it would be to insert one. Apparently, it changed from girl to girl and wasn't dependent on age, which didn't really help since she didn't dare to try. It could possibly hurt _her_ after all.

Also, just the simple fact that she had to research all this stuff didn't help lower the ridiculousness of her whole situation.

Not that she wanted to, but even if she did tell anyone about the fact that she was from another reality in which she used to be Harry Potter, they would waste no time to declare her mad as a hatter.

So, it was a good thing that the weekend of Lockhart's duel club had arrived. She sure was as curious as the rest of the school's populace, but for different reasons. Most, if not all of the students were just giddy to see Lockhart kick arse. _She_ , on the other hand, wanted to see if this Lockhart could actually kick arse or if he would get his arse kicked like the Lockhart she was actually familiar with.

Her group of friends and she had been waiting in the Great Hall for quite a few minutes now while the rest of those wanting to attend were slowly trickling in.

Everyone was guessing about what this club might entail, what they might be taught. Rose wondered if they would be taught _Expelliarmus_ again, considering how incredibly useful a spell it was when she used to be Harry. She sure hoped so.

"How do you not gain weight?" Megan asked, causing Rose to look at her close, possibly even _best_ friend with wide eyes and cheeks stuffed with chocoballs, kindly provided by the house-elves.

"What do you mean?" she asked Megan after swallowing the sweet treat, a bit confused.

"You eat so many sweets but you look the same as last year!"

Rose just shrugged. "I don't know. I never paid attention to my weight so far. I just eat what I want." She then popped another chocoball in her mouth with a grin, chewing slowly.

Megan narrowed her eyes at her and huffed in annoyance. "You suck. It can't even be your Quidditch training. You only started this year."

"True." She shrugged again. "As I said, dunno how I don't gain weight. Don't care either." She turned towards her brother and his friends, who had joined them. "Hey Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione." To make room for the duelling club, the Hufflepuff table was pushed against the Gryffindor table while the Ravenclaws' table was pushed towards the Slytherins'. The platform for the duels had been set up in the space left by the removed tables. So, Rose and her friends had to cosy up with the lions.

"Hey, Rosie!" Harry gave her a peck on the cheek. She had gotten used to this Harry's affectionate side when it came to her. If she were honest, it even felt nice to have a family that liked you like that and showed it too. The times when it weirded her out were slowly but surely fading into the distance. She just had to sort herself out now. All in good time though.

Harry sat himself down next to her onto the empty chair to her right, with the other Gryffindors following suit and occupying the other chairs. "Want some?" she asked her brother while holding out her palm with chocoballs. He grabbed one and popped it into his mouth.

"Thanks! How was your day?" Harry asked her. "I had so much homework to do, my whole Saturday's been wasted on Transfigurations…"

She could only snort at that. "That's your own fault."

"I know, right?" Hermione added from behind Harry, making Rose grin and wave at her.

Ron, however, who was sitting next to her brother, quickly jumped in to his best mate's aid. "We shouldn't be getting that much homework to begin with!"

"Weasley's not wrong about that, Rose," Sally-Anne said with a shrug, earning herself nods from Neville, Justin, Lily and several others.

"Looks like we are outnumbered, Hermione." Rose grinned at her, earning herself a beaming smile. While Hermione tended to have some very infuriating habits, there also were times like these, when just including her in any small way could make her smile like that. It was good to see her happy and comfortable with others.

What wasn't so good was seeing and hearing Lockhart and Snape arriving in the Great Hall, surprisingly accompanied by Professor Flitwick. It kind of made sense in hindsight though, considering there had been the rumour about him being a duelling champion in the other reality.

"Welcome, dear students!" Lockhart said with a magically amplified voice while purposefully making his way through the hall and towards the platform. "I am sure you all are curious about why this club was founded and what it has to offer to you."

Rose's eyes didn't leave the three teachers for a moment.

Once they were standing on the platform, Lockhart continued with his introductory speech. "Before I begin, allow me to formally thank both Professors Flitwick and Snape for agreeing to lead this club with me." _That_ was already very different. The Lockhart she remembered declared Snape to be his assistant, something the bat quite disliked. "The reason why I brought this idea to Professor Dumbledore is simple: I wished for a practical application of DADA in a safe and controlled combat environment. Here you can safely apply the spells in my class while under my, Professor Snape's and Professor Flitwick's supervision. You will learn to use spells like _Expelliarmus_ and _Protego_ and many more over the course of the year."

Rose couldn't help but feel impressed with what she was hearing and that worried her. Lockhart wasn't supposed to be impressive.

"This sounds great, doesn't it?" Ernie asked the group and received excited nods and chatter in return. They, and the rest of the students who decided to attend, got up from their chairs and walked towards the duelling stage.

Lockhart and Professor Flitwick looked excited while Snape had the kind of look on his face one would save for particularly nasty insects.

"Now, my dear little students, you will see a quick demonstration between my humble self and your beloved potions professor," Lockhart announced. Rose couldn't decide whether the 'humble'-part or the 'beloved'-part was more gag-worthy.

"I hope he destroys that miserable, greasy git," Ron said, getting a high-five from her brother and a scandalized look from Hermione. Neville just chuckled.

"Your brother and his friends don't seem to be too fond of Snape," Megan noted with a giggle.

Rose shook her head in confirmation. "They really aren't."

Everyone's attention soon turned to the two teachers positioning themselves on each end of the stage. Professor Flitwick erected what Rose assumed to be a ward or something of that sort to prevent any stray spells from hitting an unfortunate student.

The teachers bowed with their wands held in front of their chests – Lockhart respectfully and Snape barely at all. "Expelliarmus!" Within the blink of an eye, Snape fired his spell at Lockhart. She expected him to be hit square in the chest and sent flying, but instead, he blocked the spell with a _Protego_. A quick barrage of more spells from Snape followed, but Lockhart, who appeared to be genuinely enjoying himself, was unwavering in his defence. Snape's eyes were slightly narrowed, just a bit but enough to be noticeable. He was annoyed.

"This will be enough," Professor Flitwick announced to the collective disappointment of everybody. "What you have witnessed are two of the most basic, but also most essential charms you will need in your lives – _Expelliarmus_ and _Protego_."

"Get together in pairs, please!" Lockhart said. "One of you will use Protego, the other Expelliarmus. Parchments with the wand movements and pronunciation are being handed out right about now." True to his word, every student had one flying right into their hands.

"Make space for each other, students!" Professor Flitwick ordered. "Form an orderly line so no one will accidentally hit another!"

Once everyone was settled, the mumbling of students practising the pronunciations could be heard throughout the hall, along with the swishing of wand movements.

This definitely was _very_ different from what she remembered. In fact, the general set-up and idea of this club reminded her of Dumbledore's Army in fifth year.

Her brother took the opportunity to get paired with her, much to the obvious disappointment of Ginny, Rose noted with no small amount of amusement. She didn't mind, though. She hadn't had the chance to see this Harry's magical ability in action yet, so this was as good an opportunity as any.

"You try to disarm me, Harry," she told him. The charm had been her favourite in the other reality and she wanted to see this Harry's aptitude with it.

"You sure?" he asked her, his tone betraying his worry. "I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt you."

Rose cocked a brow at him. "I think I can handle myself." She readied her wand and waited for Harry to do the same. He was still studying the parchment, trying to mimic the wand movements as illustrated. Then, looking up to her, he gave her a confused look. "Don't you want to practice your spell a bit at first?"

"Protego is easy. Just an upwards slash, see." She made a sharp upwards movement with her wand, followed by a clear incantation, erecting a shield in the process.

"Very impressive, Miss Potter! Five points for Hufflepuff!" Flitwick said.

Rose couldn't help but give Harry a smug look, even though she had a few years of extra knowledge at her disposal. Her brother squinted his eyes at her, then returned his attention to the parchment again. A few more practice movements later, he nodded at himself, then looked at her.

"You ready?" he asked her.

"Yep."

"Okay. At three...one, two, three – _Expelliarmus_!"

" _Protego_!"

She could feel the impact of Harry's disarming charm against her shield. It obviously wasn't as potent as she remembered, but if this first try of _this_ Harry was any indicator then she was sure he would get there no problem. That was definitely good to know since that spell would come in handier than Harry could ever imagine.

Professor Flitwick clapped his hands in excitement. "Another impressive display! Five points for Gryffindor, courtesy of Mr Potter!"

This time it was Harry's turn to look smug. She allowed him to have that moment. In the other reality, she never had such moments. She had been too busy justifying her actions or trying to prove her innocence because of–

No. It wasn't the time to dwell on those things right now.

Her eyes caught sight of Lockhart instead and how he was intently fixating on several students as if he was looking for something. Maybe he was just eyeing their wand movements or listening to their pronunciation of the incantations. Or maybe there was more to it. Maybe…

She looked at her twin. "Harry, could you do me a favour?"

He nodded without hesitation. "Sure!"

"Could you check the teachers on the map later and tell me if there's any name that shouldn't be there?"

He raised a brow at her and cocked his head in confusion. "Why? I mean I'll do it, but _why_?"

She shrugged and put on her best nervous face. "Dunno...just nervous I guess, after last year with Pettigrew and everything."

His face was a mixture of sympathy and suspicion and she was sure he had a hunch that there was more to it than she let on. That was okay, though. She just wanted to make sure that Lockhart was still Lockhart. If it was so, then he'd be nothing more than this reality's version of the fraud she remembered.

Nothing more, nothing less.


	16. Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor

The duelling club was the talk of the following week. People were talking about nothing but Lockhart versus Snape and the spells the teachers taught the students. Rose didn't understand what it was about the duel between Lockhart and Snape everyone found so exciting. In her opinion, it was nothing but disappointing. Nothing had happened there, after all. Snape had fired a few spells and Lockhart had blocked them. Oh, she was sure Snape would have loved nothing more than to have a proper duel with Lockhart, but alas, Professor Flitwick had interrupted it before anything could really happen.

She didn't add much to those conversations though. Her mind was still occupied with Lockhart and how different and competent he was. Her brother confirmed that the map showed every teacher as who they were, which meant that Lockhart was really Lockhart. It freaked her out more than her first period did and that was saying something. Maybe it was because her first period had been something she expected while this Lockhart was completely unexpected.

Or maybe she should just stop comparing Gilderoy Lockhart with her first period.

Instead, actually listening to him during DADA might be more helpful in solving this mystery.

So, forcing herself out of her thoughts, she returned her attention to class.

"...and this is how I banished the Banshee." He ended his tale with his trained and perfected chuckle.

 _It's probably even true,_ Rose thought with disgust.

Lockhart let his gaze wander from student to student. "The most fascinating creatures I have encountered during my journeys, however, have been snakes."

Rose's heart started to pound wildly in her chest. She avoided his eyes when they landed on her.

"Why snakes, you might wonder," Lockhart continued as he walked around his desk and sat down on it, his smile firmly etched onto his face. "Snakes are ordinary animals after all, aren't they? But, they are not. Ordinary snakes and their magical cousins, ranging from Runespoors to Chimeras and even Basilisks are – as far as we know – the only non-humanoid species existing on this planet who have a language."

So he was again talking about something to do with parseltongue. If that wasn't suspicious Rose didn't know what was.

Lockhart paused for a moment, seemingly collecting his thoughts and weighing his words. "To me," he continued, "the ability to communicate with any species in such a way...it is fascinating. From what could be gathered through old scripts and such things, Salazar Slytherin's ability was not all that widely known." He got down from his desk, his smile unwavering as he let his gaze wander once more. "Many people thought that with Slytherin's and his immediate descendants' deaths, the language had died too. But, there have been rumours... Would you look at that! How time flies!"

Rose was stunned for a moment because of Lockhart's sudden change from spinning that tale to dismissing them out of seemingly nowhere.

She obviously wasn't the only one to get caught off guard like that considering it took a couple of moments for the other students to start packing. After giving herself a quick shake, she focused her attention on packing up her books, parchments and writing utensils. Once finished, she quickly followed her friends who already were on their way outside.

It was Ernie who broke their silence. "Such an odd man."

 _No kidding._ What was this weird obsession Lockhart appeared to be having with speaking parseltongue? The only times this ability only ever mattered had been because of Voldemort – because of his diary and his snake, to be more precise. Could it be that Lockhart had possibly gotten his hands on Voldemort's diary somehow and was now possessed by it as a result? Lucius Malfoy hadn't snuck it into Ginny's school books after all. But how would Lockhart have even found it? _If_ Lockhart was possessed, why hadn't the diary released the basilisk yet?

She was confused.

"Don't you guys think it's weird?" she asked the group. "That he keeps talking about snakes and parseltongue, I mean."

Susan looked like she was thinking for a moment. Then, she shrugged. "I don't think so. I actually think it's quite interesting that he adds some stuff outside of what he _has_ to teach."

"Besides," Roger added, "he doesn't really keep talking about it. We are about a month into the term and he's mentioned it, what? Twice?"

Rose deflated a bit at that. It obviously was still suspicious but maybe she was a bit too obsessive about it? No. There were no such things as coincidences. Not when it came to her. Not when it came to something like this.

But for now, she would just have to keep an eye on Lockhart.

* * *

The following weeks started to blur into each other. The amount of homework they received increased rapidly and their free time decreased.

She didn't mind if she was honest.

People were busy, as was she, but that was okay. She had missed that routine and being distracted by her studies. In the first few weeks, she had really started to worry that this term would not be as peaceful as the last. They had closed in on Halloween, however, and she had kept as close an eye on the DADA teacher as possible. Yet, there had been nothing suggesting anything beyond him being an adventurer who was more knowledgeable than she'd expected.

He didn't look tired or as if he hadn't bathed or eaten in weeks; there were no signs of confusion.

Her worries didn't really increase, but they also didn't go away. Still, she could tear her focus away from him and focus on learning to be herself instead.

Being herself meant Rose and being Rose meant learning to appreciate being a girl. Her whole situation was scary and crazy, of course, but at some point, she had to find that inner equilibrium. Freaking out after every _girly_ thing was counterproductive. She knew that.

But simply accepting her situation as it was was pretty much impossible. Being the sister of the bloke she used to be made everything all the more difficult. Still, she had gotten over many mental barriers already and, at this moment, this thought process was another important step in the right direction. She wanted to live a long happy life this time. Obviously, it wouldn't be possible with Voldemort still in the picture. She would be smarter this time though. She would also make sure to reign Harry in when he would act like...well, _Harry_. And then, once all that was over, she would live a good and happy life.

As Rose Potter. As a woman.

What that would end up meaning, she would have to see.

Rose tapped the feathery end of her quill against her bottom lip as she was lying on her stomach in her bed. Her chin was resting on her pillow as she eyed the order form from Megan's latest Teen-Witch-Weekly. She knew she didn't need to do every stereotypical girly thing in order to accept herself as Rose, or as a girl to be more exact. She was pretty sure though that it could and would help _her_ specifically.

Hermione and Ginny, as examples, had never had a need for such stuff, like make-up and fashion. They were comfortable with who they were, and, aside from the school's uniform and the Yule Ball in the other reality, Rose had never seen them in any skirts or dresses. The same went for her, but she was growing up now, was in the middle of her second period already and had to start thinking about removing body hair under her armpits and elsewhere.

She wanted to try things out, like wearing a teen witch's fashion. She wanted to try different colours of nail polish and different styles of make-up. Maybe she'd end up enjoying all that stuff, maybe she wouldn't. One way or another it would help her though.

Nodding at herself, she dipped the quill into her ink bottle and started to sign all the things she wanted to order.

Next would be her own subscription of that magazine.

Being a girl really wasn't all that bad.

* * *

Halloween had arrived and Rose was on edge. The first Basilisk attack had happened on this day in the other reality, resulting in a petrified Mrs Norris and a distraught Mr Filch.

Rose hoped that nothing would happen this time.

The good thing was that neither she nor apparently Harry had been invited to any death parties and Harry appeared to be in a generally good mood, despite it being the day of their parents' death.

So, things could obviously start out worse.

Her friends and she had taken their seats at the Hufflepuff table. Rose waved at her brother after she caught his eyes, receiving a beaming smile and enthusiastic wave in return. At the very least, neither of them could be suspected of animal cruelty, should Mrs Norries get attacked again.

There were no speeches to be held, so everyone just loaded their plates with as much as they dared.

"Next weekend is the first Quidditch match," Justin noted. "You excited, Rose? You're going to play against your brother after all."

After swallowing her mouthful, Rose nodded in confirmation. "I actually am. I've been looking forward to it since I got the spot."

Megan could barely contain herself. "I can't wait to watch you play!"

Rose grinned in return. "I'll do my best to catch the snitch, of course."

Then, Sally-Anne gained everyone's attention. "Well, a certain Slytherin can't wait to just watch you in general, apparently."

That sentence was like someone emptying a bucket of ice water over her head. "Please don't tell me…"

Rose didn't even bother with being discreet. She just turned around in her chair and searched the Slytherin table for Malfoy, who wasn't quite fast enough to hide the fact that he had, indeed, been eyeballing her once again.

"Bloody hell, what does he want from me?!" Turning back to her friends with wide eyes, she looked at all of them in the hopes of finding answers.

Sally-Anne sighed in exasperation. "I already told you, back when I first noticed him staring, Rose…"

"Yeah, well, I didn't like that answer."

"What's so bad about a guy finding you pretty?" Megan asked, taking a glance at the Slytherin table. "Even if it's someone like Draco Malfoy."

"Not you too, Megan!" Just the _thought_ sent shivers of the unpleasant kind down her spine.

"Just saying." Megan shrugged. "I bet at least one guy is going to ask you out to Hogsmeade next term."

Trying to accept oneself as a girl with memories of a bloke was one thing, but then, having to imagine other blokes ask one out was something else entirely. She _really_ didn't want to think about those things right now.

No, what she was focusing on was the true reason why Malfoy was staring at her. She wasn't sure if that slimy git even had it in him to find anything pretty at all. When people said 'like father, like son' they surely meant Lucius and Draco Malfoy.

She'd definitely had to keep an eye on that one too. Him staring at her couldn't mean anything good.

A stifled giggle returned her attention back to her friends. "What's so funny?" Rose asked Susan with a raised brow.

Susan shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "Just thinking about the scandal."

"What scandal?" She was genuinely confused.

"If...you know...you and Malfoy…the potential scandal…" Susan broke out into giggles again, this time joined by the others.

" _Why_ would you even think about that?!" Rose asked, her voice full of desperation.

"Merlin, can you imagine the field day the Prophet would have?" Ernie added, doing his best not to outright laugh.

"He's looking again," Sally-Anne said in a singsong voice.

She turned around so fast that this time Rose caught him in the act, their eyes locking. She squinted hers at him, doing her best to deliver her most vicious glare, while he just cocked a pale brow at her.

"Literal sparks flying," Megan said, ruining her effort in the process.

Rose tore her eyes away from Malfoy and just focused on her meal instead, enduring her friends' teasing.

She just hoped that Draco staring at her would be the worst of the evening.

* * *

Halloween had passed peacefully and there were no cats petrified and no Potters accused of any wrongdoing.

However, the weekend of the first Quidditch match had arrived and it would be the Potter twins against each other.

The teams were in the tunnel leading to the pitch, everyone's concentration clearly visible.

"Ready, Potter?" Maxine asked.

 _Huh. Déjà vu. Kind of._ "Yeah. I'm not really nervous." She really wasn't. There were just the obligatory butterflies in the stomach before the beginning of the match.

Anthony Rickett, the other beater, gave her an appreciative nod. "That's good to hear. Just concentrate on your game and you'll be fine."

The other first-time players – namely Heidi Macavoy, Tamsin Applebee, Malcolm Preece, who built the lineup of chasers, and Herbert Fleet, the keeper – looked a lot more nervous than her, that much was clear. None of them spoke, and Heidi was even doing some breathing exercises if Rose was guessing correctly.

But no, she definitely was not nervous. Quite the opposite in fact: she was giddy with excitement.

She glanced at Harry. His face was a stony mask of pure concentration. It was clear how serious he was taking this. Was it because of her, though, or was it a general competitive streak? For her, Quidditch had always been more of an escape, a fun game. She never had followed the sport itself all that much, never had had a favourite team. It'd be the same for her this time too, she was certain.

The Gryffindors were the rambunctious bunch she remembered, with Johnson, Bell, Spinnet and the Weasley twins joking around and laughing. Wood was as obsessed with the last second details as she remembered him to be and Harry was quiet and focused. He wasn't paying attention to anybody, not even her, but that was okay. She and her brother had wished each other good luck already during breakfast.

Madam Hooch's whistle called the teams to the pitch and Lee Jordan started his commentary, firing the crowd up.

"...with last year's beaters O'Flaherty and Rickett! More fresh blood for Hufflepuff's team came for the seeker position, with both Diggory and Gryffindor's seeker's twin sister Rose Potter! Rumour has it they will decide between themselves who gets to play which match and today we are lucky enough to see the seeker duel between the Potter twins!"

The teams arrived in the middle of the pitch and family bonds would mean nothing now. The two captains O'Flaherty and Wood were shaking hands and Rose was ready to test herself against Harry.

The whistle was blown, the quaffle tossed into the air under the deafening roars of the student body. Tamsin Applebee and Gryffindor's Angelina Johnson were both the one's going for the quaffle, with Johnson winning the first possession for the lions.

Rose rose up on her broom, following her team, the chilly fall wind whipping across her face.

This was what she truly had missed the most.

She looked for her brother and it didn't take long for her to find him, hovering over the rest of the players and his eyes scanning the air for the snitch. She knew he would do exactly that – she used to be him after all.

She moved further up until she was at around the same altitude as Harry. They both were watching what was going on below them, but she could just about make out Lee Jordan's commentary amidst the students' cheers and the howling wind.

"Applebee is in possession, she is flying towards Wood, flanked by Macavoy and Preece! George Weasley is sending budge her waaaay – barely dodged! Potter – the other one I mean! The uh, the twin, the girl! She is diving into Gryffindors' formation!"

Bell, Spinnet and Johnson had to break up as she rushed at them, giving her chasers more space, but Fred and George Weasley were already sending a couple of bludgers her way. Rose dodged them with sharp manoeuvres, one nearly hitting her ribs in the process, but her support worked wonders and Heidi Macavoy scored after Tamsin's assist.

Hufflepuff was now leading by ten to Gryffindor's nil.

Rose flew back up to her observational position, sending a big grin at her brother while doing so; he just glared at her. She inched a bit closer to Harry, earning herself his suspicion. "Any sight of the snitch yet?" she asked, hoping he could hear her through the noise.

"Sorry, but no."

"Too bad."

Her brother just gave her an unimpressed look. "You can't distract me."

 _I bet I can, Harry. Let's see how protective you are already._ "Malfoy has been staring at me this whole term."

" _What_?!"

She bit her bottom lip in an effort to keep a straight face. "Sally-Anne made me aware of that. It's really creepy."

"That slimy rat! I swear–" And without another word, he suddenly shot downwards, catching her off guard and causing her to panic. Both their brooms were top of the line, but hers was a bit newer and faster. Still, she barely caught up to Harry.

The wind rushed past them, and everything blurred together, the noise, the environment. They inched ever closer towards the ground...

Harry then pulled up – a picture-perfect Wronski-feint – as did she, and calmly went back to his observing position.

He grinned at her. "Not bad."

She couldn't believe she fell for one of the oldest seeker tricks. This time it was her turn to glare at him.

But only for a moment.

The small and winged golden ball was hovering above the Gryffindors' middle goalpost and Harry was closer to it. Looking at the score, she saw her team leading with 110 points to the lions' 60. While she was debating whether to go for it and risk losing because of Harry's advantageous position or to leave it, her decision was taken from her when her brother caught sight of it himself and immediately shot for it. Cursing under her breath, she went for it too, pressing herself as tightly as she could onto her broom, urging it to fly faster. Maxine and Anthony caught sight of the situation and immediately went to work, sending the bludgers flying into Harry's path. He was small and mobile enough to dodge them without too much effort.

After what felt like ages, her broom finally caught up with his, and, head to head at the last few metres, they were closing in together towards the snitch.

The snitch had moved from its earlier position and was now rushing towards the stands, Rose and Harry hot on its wings. Both pairs of beaters still were sending bludgers their way, both she and her brother dodging under the roars of both the spectators and the wind. She didn't see anything but the golden ball as she got closer and closer to it and she knew it was the same for Harry.

She could practically feel the cold metal through her gloved hands as she stretched one out towards the snitch. Harry did the same, both of them reaching out for it–

And then it made a sharp movement towards the field on the right and flew right into Harry's waiting hand.

Rose felt lead settle in her stomach as she could not believe what just happened.

The players landed on the field, the lions celebrating Harry, who held the snitch up in victory with a big grin while on the Weasley twins' shoulders.

Rose's shoulders were sagging and she was gritting her teeth. She didn't know what to do and just stood right where she had landed, watching her brother celebrate while she felt as if someone had punched her right in the gut.

Her team walked up to her, congratulated her for a great match and comforted her. A random and unexpected movement of the snitch had cost them the match and they looked all as down as she felt.

But she had been so close. She had practically tasted the victory and now it was just ash in her mouth.

"Great match, Rosie."

She turned to look and see her brother walk up to her. He pulled her into a hug, which she gladly accepted and returned. It sucked that they lost, of course, but he was her brother and she would not ruin that for him. "You too."

"Thanks." He released her, obviously not quite sure what to say. Then, after clearing his throat, he spoke again. "So, that thing about Malfoy staring at you, was that honest or did you just want to mess with me?"

_Oh boy._


	17. Interlude I

The unfortunate loss to Gryffindor had, fortunately, not too much of an impact on the overall mood in the badgers' basement. Rose was still down, but Megan and the others did their best to cheer her up – successfully too.

She didn't want to disparage Harry's win, not by any means. Still, in the end, it was more luck than skill which decided the match. The snitch could have flown in any direction and ended up deciding for Harry's hand.

Talk about a bloody wanker for a golden, winged ball.

There was nothing that could be done though and life went on. At the end of the day, it was just a sport, a hobby.

Far more significant than that loss to Harry and the Gryffindor-team was how she got deeper and deeper into that role of being Rose. Was it even a role anymore? She couldn't tell. At times the struggles were there, especially when her memories of her previous life were necessary and when they were dominant. But when time began to blur, when her school life got busier and busier, she _forgot_. She forgot that she used to be Harry, she forgot that she used to be a guy. She forgot that _this life_ hadn't even existed before she'd met Death itself.

In her first year, when everything was still so very fresh, she never forgot those things. She simply did not give herself the time to worry. She ignored everything because ignorance was bliss.

But now, more often than not, she started to _feel_ like Rose. She started to _be_ Rose.

She started to be a girl.

Was that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Her biggest worry had never been being a girl. Her biggest worry had always been _how to be_ a girl. Girls could be amazing, just as blokes. Hermione, Gryffindor's full-female chaser lineup, even Ginny once she got over her crush – they were all amazing. There was also Cho, of course, Luna, all of her dorm-mates. Even Lavender and Parvati, who seemingly embraced every stereotype directed at the fairer sex and yet stood tall and proud.

They were all prime examples of great and strong girls and there surely were many more she had forgotten or not even met yet.

No, being a girl was not bad at all. But it was difficult to arrange her male memories with everything female going on in this life.

She was making progress though. The fact that this life was so much better than her previous life – in almost every aspect – made things a lot easier, too.

* * *

"Oh, I love those colours!" Megan exclaimed as she was sitting on Rose's bed. Rose, Megan, and the rest of the dorm were eyeing Rose's large purchase of cosmetic products. The delivery had to be done by multiple owls and it took almost two weeks of waiting, but the nail polish, make-up, witches' robes, and other fashion had all finally arrived. Rose had to admit that she was both incredibly nervous and excited to try everything out.

Just looking at all those things made her stomach clench in the best and worst ways, but she wanted to – no, she _needed_ to take that leap. She needed to satisfy that niggling, permanent curiosity but she also needed to get comfortable with _everything_ girly, no matter how stereotypical it was. She may or may not end up enjoying all that stuff, but that wasn't what was important here. What was important was to finally fully embrace herself – yes, _herself_ – as who and what she was in this reality, as Rose Potter, a girl. She wasn't Harry anymore. Being Harry Potter was a memory. Important, obviously, but a memory nonetheless.

Here – in this life, in this reality – she was the little sister by however many minutes. She was Rose and being Rose was bloody great. It was about time that she was finally able to fully embrace and enjoy that greatness of being Rose, with everything that it entailed.

Like applying nail polish. The beige colour, the girls had painted her nails with at the beginning of the term, had looked so pretty, and she remembered how she stole what felt like a billion glances at her nails whenever she had the chance to. It made her feel prettier than she ever felt before and it had just been her nails! She wanted more of that feeling but was too shy and too embarrassed to ask.

Until now.

Plus all that other stuff about embracing her existence as Rose and all that jazz of course.

Rose grinned at her friend's excitement. Megan was almost like the Hufflepuff version of Lavender Brown and for a fleeting moment, she had to wonder if Hermione's complaints of the blonde Gryffindor had been fair at all. Maybe she'd end up striking a conversation with her one day soon-ish. Just to see. "I've been thinking a lot about, you know, all that make-up stuff and everything, and I kind of have a lot of fun with you guys whenever we mess around with that stuff, so…" Rose finished her explanation with a shrug.

Megan squealed and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. She sure was strong for someone who was barely any taller than her.

Her friend gave her a mile-wide smile. "I knew you were just indulging us but I also knew you'd want to try some things at your own pace." She then proceeded to arrange the different things before stopping and looking at her. "Where do we start?"

This time, Rose didn't dread a thing. This time, Rose was just as excited as Megan.

* * *

Days blurred into weeks and Rose soon found herself even more drowned in homework than she already had been. The teachers seemed to have found it appropriate to push through as much of the second term's curriculum as possible, no matter how much the student body had to suffer.

And they suffered a lot.

While she didn't enjoy these – admittedly common – periods of an average school term, Rose still had some experience in handling them, so she made it through them without a nervous breakdown.

Unlike some poor Ravenclaw girl in the Great Hall during dinner, who suddenly broke out in tears. The stress of being a fifth-year – Rose remembered that very well. Although, admittedly, _she'd had_ the additional stress of being slandered.

Rose enjoyed her life a lot and it was still such a foreign concept to her – the concept of enjoying one's life – that it often still had a surreal feel to her.

If she had to be a girl to actually be able to love life, then so be it. She couldn't bring herself to complain about it anymore. Bleeding down there every month for a week, growing breasts – so bloody what? Life was good. Being a girl was scary, yes, but this life was also the single greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She never really had been happy as Harry. That much was fact.

Life was really good.

* * *

Before she knew it, Christmas had arrived. She was excited to see Sirius again and could barely sit still throughout the train ride back home.

_Home_.

Watching Harry – happily chatting with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny – in the compartment next to hers made her feel so warm and content. When she used to be Harry, the train rides from Hogwarts to London had always been a very solemn affair.

No, this was good. This was right. She'd let herself get resurrected a million times as a girl if this was the life she'd end up getting. Just that grin on Harry's face was worth _everything_.

"So, what are you going to get me?" Megan asked after bumping Rose with her shoulder.

Rose snorted. "What's the point of a present if you already know what it is?"

"The point is that I then know what it is."

With a small shake of her head, Rose shoved Megan playfully.

She thought she'd have a harder time bonding with the firsties considering she had the memories of a fifteen-year-old. Yet, the reality was that she embraced the joys she had of being that young she had missed out on. In some bizarre ways, she could count herself lucky. Who else could say they had had the chance to relive the things one had missed out on in life?

It was nice to find out what actually truly being happy and content with life felt like. As Harry, she wasn't sure if she would ever get to have that privilege. It turned out her doubts weren't misplaced. That privilege seemed to have been reserved for her existence as Rose.

Nevertheless, she didn't mind. She would enjoy this peace for as long as it would last. Sooner or later, the dark times would arrive, Bellatrix's death notwithstanding. There were still other fanatics at large after all. But those days were still some ways away.

"Would you guys like to come over after Christmas?" Rose asked the group. It was the first time she'd ever invited anyone to a place she called home, so her heart was beating painfully in her chest.

Megan, however, was wasting no time to nod enthusiastically. "Oh, I'd love to! I'll have to talk to my parents first, though."

"I'm sure Sirius will talk with them in case they have questions," Rose said. She then turned to the rest. "What about you? I'd love to have all of you over."

"Auntie won't mind. I'd love to!" Susan said with a grin and Hannah quickly joined in on the excitement.

"I'd love to come too!"

"I can't", Sally-Anne said with obvious disappointment. "My family is going to spend the hols in the Canary Islands."

Lily looked just as disappointed. "And we in Madeira."

Rose gave the two girls an impressed look. "Wow, I've got to talk to Sirius about spending our hols elsewhere at some point."

"Will it just be us girls?" Megan asked and suddenly Rose kind of felt like being put on the spot.

She hadn't exactly planned this invitation as a girls-only thing, but now it would be super awkward to disagree with the others.

It would be okay though. It'd be fun, she was sure of it. Plus, wanting to invite boys to Grimmauld Place would definitely cause Sirius to age by a decade or two. She could certainly live without those awkward moments.

And for just a fleeting moment, she wondered if she'd end up liking boys, girls or maybe both and what any of the above would mean for _her_ , both as Rose and her memories of being Harry. As quickly as they came, though, she brushed those thoughts away.

There still was a lot of time until _that_ point would be reached.

"Yep," she answered and didn't even have to force out a grin. "It'll just be us girls."

* * *

Christmas came and went. For her, it had been the best time she had ever had, in both her lives. Harry, Sirius, Remus, the whole Tonks family, she – all of them together had made Christmas a real family experience and Andromeda's cooking had been sublime. It almost felt like a dream to have actual people there, an actual family to celebrate this special holiday, but it had been real indeed. She threw quite a few glances at her twin and it always made her heart clench in the best ways to see him that happy. Just having these few people here to celebrate Christmas, as this weird patchwork family that they were, had Harry wear a smile that could light up the darkest corners of the universe.

And, as if her Christmas hols weren't going fantastically already, Megan, Susan and Hannah spent the day after Christmas at Grimmauld Place. They didn't do anything really special. She showed them around the house, showed them her room and the miniature garden she had set up in her room which was tended to by Tappy, their house-elf. Tappy also brought them butterbeer and a slice of sinfully sweet treacle tart to her room.

She had to have seconds or Harry would have devoured the rest all by himself.

She had a great time with the other girls just chatting and giggling and laughing, and she wished Sally-Anne and Lily had been able to join them too, though she was sure the sunny beaches they were visiting during the British winter was consolation enough for those two.

And more quickly than Rose would have liked the Christmas hols were over and it was time to go back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Late February arrived and the second Quidditch match for Hufflepuff was close. This time she would be the one sitting on the sidelines while Cedric would be playing. She hoped he'd have more luck than she did with that bloody snitch.

She and the rest of the second year Hufflepuffs were all currently in the common room when Cedric entered with a few of whom she assumed to be his friends. She waved at him lazily upon seeing him. "Hey, Cedric."

He smiled at her. "What's up?"

Under the watchful gaze of her friends, she got up from her comfortable seat and walked over to the fourth years. "I was wondering if you've got an idea already for the Ravenclaw match. Y'know, how we are going to decide who's going to play and all that."

Cedric ran a hand through his hair, messing up his messy mop even more. Rose could see why her friends were swooning over him so much. "No clue," he replied with a shrug. "Do you have something in mind?"

"Nope." She shrugged. "I was kind of hoping you'd have an idea so…"

He grinned roguishly. "Sorry to disappoint. What kind of contest or competition are we even talking about?"

"Nothing too barmy, obviously." She cocked her hip to the side and rested her hand on it. "It could be, like, who gets the most house points or...the best grades in our next essays. Or who can eat the most treacle tarts in one go."

Cedric had to laugh at that. "That's one contest I won't allow. I've seen you swallow those whole."

Did she really eat them like _that_? It'd be bloody embarrassing if she did and, even more so, if Cedric had really seen it. She felt her cheeks heat up. "It was just a suggestion!" She took a breath. "So, any preferences?"

"Something academic is fine, I guess." He shrugged. "Let's just do who gets the most house points up until one week before the Ravenclaw match."

"Alright then. The competition starts after the Slytherin match." She gave him a light punch against his shoulder – something that made her realize just how much taller he was than her, or just how short she was, considering how high she had to reach just for that little punch. "Good luck in advance."

"Thanks, see you around, Rose."

She gave him another lazy wave and, after turning back towards her friends and seeing the greedy looks on Megan's and Sally-Anne's eyes, she groaned inwardly, fully aware that she had to recount her conversation with Cedric minute-by-minute.

Oh well, a sacrifice she was willing to make. Such little things just didn't bother her as much anymore the more comfortable she got with being a girl.

Just a little sacrifice in the grand scheme of things.

* * *

Hufflepuff indeed managed to win against Slytherin and the badgers' den celebrated the upset deep into the night. Cedric made a clutch catch which secured the win, considering the Hufflepuff team had been dominated by Slytherin for most of the match. No one cared, though. The win was what counted. Good thing that Draco made for a terrible seeker.

However, the win soon got forgotten as school went on for everybody. School, after the initial weirdness, became normal enough for the most part. Rose had gotten used to Lockhart's competence and his strange obsession with snakes and parselmouths. Nothing indicated anything sinister going on in his head and no basilisk was wreaking havoc in the school.

So, with nothing to worry, she entered the DADA classroom once the door opened and took her seat, waiting for Lockhart to begin.

Lockhart gave the class a big smile. "Children, I have something special for you today."

Rose sighed inwardly. She already had a feeling where this was going to go and dreaded it. The peaceful times just had to have been too good to last for too long.

"I have some illustrations and photographs for you. Both are of snake symbols, snake-shaped locks, statues and other such things said to have been used by Salazar Slytherin himself." His eyes were shining with excitement as he looked from student to student and Rose felt like he was piercing right through her soul with his gaze. "It is said that Slytherin hid his most secret lairs behind such things – locks and statues looking like snakes – and only a parselmouth could command them to open."

Indeed, once she got her set of photographs and illustrations, she saw that each had eerie similarities to what she'd seen at the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets and inside of it.

And, after seeing that, her worries returned with a vengeance.


	18. A Night Out For Twins

The competition between Rose and Hufflepuff's very own Prince Charming had officially begun. Rose was kind of disappointed that it wasn't a competition where they actually had to go against each other face-to-face.

It was fine though.

In the end, their house benefited from it because they both wanted to play against Ravenclaw, so she knew they both would give it their all, which would result in tons of points for Hufflepuff. But, this competition was also a test of trust. Neither could guarantee that the other wouldn't cheat in another point or two. Neither of them could also guarantee that, if they were to have someone _'neutral'_ from their year count the points, someone else from their respective years would _'accidentally'_ add another point or two.

So, Cedric and she had to trust in the other's sportsman- slash sportswomanship. They were both Hufflepuffs, they both believed in fair play, so Rose wasn't worried at all. She also had memories of Cedric from her past life, from her life as Harry. A good bloke. In her past life, he had been someone who had lived and literally died by the concept of fair play. Rose was immensely relieved that _that_ hadn't changed in his personality. Cedric still was so unbelievably nice.

So, she trusted him and hoped he thought the same way when it came to her and her sense of sportswomanship.

* * *

"Great work as always, Ms Potter! Ten points. I wished your brother would show at least a little bit of your dedication to this class…"

Rose couldn't help the proud and beaming smile covering basically her whole face at Professor Sprout's muffled praise – the whole class was wearing ear protection – after her head of house watched her effortlessly pot a young mandrake. "Thank you, Professor. Harry has his strengths elsewhere," she said, her voice almost raised to scream. She then turned to watch her brother struggle with his wiggling and screaming mandrake, wincing a bit at the display. She had been the same, though, in her previous life, however.

She exhaled forcefully, glad that the ear protection made it impossible for others to notice.

She seriously needed to stop doing _that_. All that thinking about how she used to be like _this_ and had done _that_ in her previous life was counterproductive. It didn't help her while she was in the process of fully accepting and embracing this life as hers and herself as Rose, as a woman. Especially since she liked being Rose more than she had liked being Harry.

Megan nudged her with her elbow and Rose turned to see what her best friend wanted.

"How do you do this?" Megan asked while pointing at the mandrake dangling from her gloved hand.

Rose rolled her eyes at her friend with a small smile on her lips. "Don't crush its leaves in your hand and rub some of the fresh soil on the roots."

Megan wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I have to _touch_ it?"

Rose laughed at the brunette's expression. She then laughed again at the way her brother had potted the plant after she looked at what he was up to on the other side of the greenhouse. Harry had potted the poor mandrake sideways and Rose was half of a mind to accuse her brother of plant cruelty.

She felt like this term she hadn't spent as much time with Harry as she did during the last term. Obviously, they both had started to go through _changes_. Individual interests had started to emerge; their respective groups of friends had started to establish and stabilize themselves. Still, she felt bad for it. While she had no memories of her early childhood in this reality, she knew that, for the longest time, they had had no one but each other. She knew that Harry relied on her. She had begun to rely on him as well. Now, with her new mindset of accepting and embracing herself as Rose, she also started to truly accept Harry as her brother.

At first, it was difficult. How wouldn't it be? For fifteen – almost sixteen – years she had lived her life as – and she had to allow this one – _him_. She had been _him_ ; she had been Harry Potter. The memories of that life, still so firmly and fresh in her mind, didn't disappear just because her soul had been put into Harry Potter's twin sister in a different reality. But that was over now. She had gotten over it, or was at least a lot more positive about these, admittedly, ridiculous and outlandish circumstances.

So, because of that new positive mindset and outlook to her life as Rose Potter, she felt a lot more comfortable with calling Harry her brother, her twin. As time went on, she was sure she'd also be able to be more comfortable with showing him the affection he deserved.

He had never complained so far, so she wasn't sure if the only Rose who ever existed had been _her_. She wasn't even sure what exactly Death did with this reality, how it had been created. It didn't really matter in the end because there was nothing she could do about it.

She certainly hoped, though, that only her version of Rose had ever existed. It would make things a whole lot easier for her.

* * *

It was weekend in mid-March, and while some might think it was a time to take a breather, that really was far from the truth.

The amount of homework they had to do reached its peak and lots of students crammed studying sessions in every nook and cranny their timetables had to offer – especially those who had to study for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

"Hey, Harry," Rose said, taking a free seat next to him.

His mouth still full, he leaned over and pulled her into a hug, which she happily returned, even though she could hear him chewing noisily right next to her ear. _Annoying_.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" she asked him once he pulled away.

Hermione scoffed.

 _That's a no,_ Rose thought.

"Nah, I'll do that on Sunday," he said with a shrug. "It's just D.A.D.A. anyway, it's easy."

"That's fine, I suppose. Have you thought about your electives for our third year yet?" she asked Harry.

"I actually did, but I can't decide," he said, loading some of the breakfast onto her plate, and she couldn't help the smile breaking through at that simple action. "Arithmancy sounds like a ton of work, Muggle Studies is probably useless and boring, Ancient Runes is probably _just_ boring. So, it's just Care and Divination left. Ron's brothers told him that getting passing marks in Divination is easy."

Rose wasn't sure what to say to that aside from one important statement. "Just pick which sounds most interesting to you, but, in my opinion, Divination is just rubbish."

"That's not true!" a blonde girl with a bright purple hairband threw in.

Lavender Brown.

She _had_ to take the chance to get to know the girl better, beyond a couple of classes here and there and beyond what _her_ Hermione had to complain about. Not _this_ Hermione.

"Lavender, right? No offence, it's just, I don't believe in predicting the future by looking at tea leaves or staring into a foggy ball." Lavender was about to retort, but Rose held up a hand. "I respect others' opinions though. Everyone's free to believe in what they want to believe in, right?"

"That's some good wisdom, Rose," Percy said a few chairs down her row.

"I can accept that," Lavender said, and Parvati, sitting next to the blonde, nodded in agreement. "I think it's really sad when people get mean at other people just because of what they believe."

"Oh, I agree," Rose said. "So I guess you will pick Divination? Do you have an idea already about your other elective?"

"Definitely Care!" Lavender began to explain. "I _love_ animals and the fluffier they are, the better! My family lives in the countryside with lots of green around us and we have lots of animals. It's not, like, really a farm and more like a shelter, you know? I couldn't live on a farm, it'd be _so_ smelly. But my dream is to own a pet shop in Diagon Alley one day, so Care is a must for me!"

And in that short moment, Rose had learned more about Lavender than she had ever known before. "That actually sounds great! I still don't know what I want to do, but there's still time for us, isn't there?"

Lavender nodded. "That's true. You are really good at Herbology, though, right? I'd think something with plants would be right up your alley."

Rose cocked her head to the side. "Never really thought about it. I'll have to keep that in mind."

She then began to eat her breakfast, which her brother had so thoughtfully loaded onto her plate. Lavender really seemed like a nice girl and not someone who was shallow as _her_ Hermione had complained about. _This_ Hermione hadn't really mentioned Lavender as of yet. Rose would be lying if she said she wasn't curious how different _this_ Hermione's relationship was with _this_ Lavender.

And how different was _this_ Lavender to _her_ Lavender anyway?

Rose stopped chewing for a moment, feeling slightly dazed.

How could she guarantee that any new person she would get to know was the same as they had been in the other reality?

She _really_ needed to stop comparing both realities, or her brain would be in danger of exploding at some point.

_Just enjoy what you have here, Rose._

Taking a quick breath through her nose to calm herself down a bit, she glanced back at Lavender. She really liked the girl's hairband. She hadn't shared compliments with any girl yet when it came to superficial things, like clothing, make-up or accessories like hairbands. She might as well start now, right? That was what girls did, after all, right? Or, at least, what they should be doing.

"I really like your hairband, Lavender," Rose said while looking at the blonde. "It's really pretty."

There, she'd done it. She'd complimented a girl as a girl on something she was wearing because she really did find it pretty. It felt good to do that, even though, in hindsight, it hadn't really been such a special deed.

But maybe it was, considering Lavender's beaming smile.

"Thank you! That's so nice of you to say! You know, I think they'd really suit you too, but more like green tones, like emerald or even teal."

Rose grinned back. "I'll keep that in mind."

She really would. She had a feeling she'd be rocking those hairbands.

"Rosie, I've been meaning to ask you something," Harry suddenly began, and she turned her attention back from Lavender to her brother.

He looked kind of serious, which made her both worry and feel suspicious. "Yes?"

"Is Malfoy still staring at you? Because if he is, I will ask Fred and George to prank him."

Rose still wasn't sure how she felt about that protective big brother thing Harry had gotten into since she'd mentioned Malfoy.

* * *

Rose was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, topless, and examining her still-growing breasts. They were coming along nicely if she had anything to say about it.

She hoped they wouldn't get so big that the additional weight would become noticeable. That'd be annoying and probably uncomfortable more often than not. She had read a few horror stories about really big breasts in _Teen-Witch-Weekly_. Backaches, sweat down there, probability of them jiggling when walking stairs up and down.

Girls really didn't have it easy.

But she liked her body. She was petite, yes, and had experienced her first growth already during her first Hogwarts year. She doubted she'd grow much more from now on. At least the guides she read about a girl's puberty said so.

She hoped she'd at least get past 160 centimetres.

Then, there was also the growth of body hair on her armpit, her legs and... _elsewhere_. In _Teen-Witch-Weekly_ there had been an article about the best ways to remove body hair, some even muggle. It also said that it was up to every girl when they wanted to shave, that there was no appropriate or inappropriate age to do so.

The spells were supposedly very easy to use, though the article had recommended starting with the leg hair.

She might as well get down to business.

* * *

The week passed uneventfully and Rose did not mind that one bit.

She was a Potter, however, which meant that events would eventually seek her out, whether she wanted them to or not.

So, one midday afternoon, in late March, her brother walked up to the Hufflepuff table, something he had never done before.

"Hey, Rosie, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She looked at her brother, quite surprised at his nervous appearance. "Umm, okay."

She got up from her chair, her friends all looking very curious, and she couldn't blame them.

She hoped it wasn't anything too serious, but she doubted it.

Harry led her out of the Great Hall and behind one of the pillars in the corridor as he had done once before in the last term. Then, he'd explained to her why he had accepted Malfoy's challenge to a duel.

She wondered what to expect this time.

"So," Rose said after making sure they were out of sight, "what is it?"

"So, the other day I was checking the map just for fun," Harry began, though his rosy cheeks indicated that wasn't entirely true, "and I noticed something weird."

Rose felt her gut plummet. "Weird _how_?" she asked, her apprehension clear in her voice.

"Lockhart has been out in the castle every night for the past few days – I made sure – and is walking up and down different corridors multiple times every night."

"Sounds like he's looking for something," Rose muttered and now every weird and random mention of snakes and parselmouths made sense to her.

Lockhart was looking for the Chamber of Secrets.

* * *

Late at night on the same day, Rose snuck out of her dorm to the soft snores of the rest of the girls.

She snuck through the empty common room, where even the flowers were sleeping, and carefully crawled out of the tunnel and pushed open the barrel lid at the end of it before stepping outside.

"Rose!"

Both her hands flew to her mouth so fast, she slapped herself trying to stifle the shriek threatening to escape her. With frantic eyes, she glared at the hovering head of her brother who, apparently, had been waiting for her behind the barrels and under their invisibility cloak.

"Bloody hell, Harry!" she hissed at him. "I nearly pissed myself!"

"I think you kind of did," he said with a wince and pointed at her crotch.

Her face immediately felt as if it was on fire. She quickly turned away to look at the front of her pyjama bottoms, only to find them dry. With a deadpan look, she turned back around to her snickering brother. "Just let me under that bloody cloak, you bellend…"

He held it up and she quickly got under it next to Harry. A quick one-armed hug later, Harry pulled the Marauder's map from his sweatpants' back pocket. He then activated it and they both watched the magical ink spreading through the parchment and drawing every known inch of Hogwarts.

Rose immediately went to search, her index finger moving from dot-person to dot-person, but there were only so many who were still moving around this late at night.

Though, all – save for one – were in a room.

The lone dot was currently moving at a pretty decent pace through one of the third floor's corridors. That dot was named Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Come on, let's go," Rose said, urging Harry on.

With quick yet careful steps, they made their way away from the kitchen corridor and past the Great Hall. No matter how many times she had snuck out before, this eerily silent Great Hall would always just be wrong in her eyes. It needed the chatter and laughter of the students, the amazing scent of Hogwarts's house-elves' cooking.

It needed to be alive to feel _right_.

Moments later, they reached the stairs leading up, their only light provided by the castle's torches.

"So," Harry began, his voice barely even a whisper, "since when did you become a potty mouth?"

Rose blushed and pointedly avoided him. "You hear things. You pick up things. Shut up, it's your fault anyway."

She could almost feel his flabbergasted expression. "Wha-"

Before he could even get a word out, Rose shushed him with a hand over his mouth. They were only halfway up the stairs leading to the second floor, but she had picked up the sound of rapid footsteps which were getting closer. Frozen on the spot, she strained to listen, but the footsteps were moving away from them again.

They slowly took the rest of the stairs and moved close to a wall. Rose felt Harry's hand move to his back pocket and moments later, they were again looking at the activated map.

"It was Lockhart," Rose whispered. "He moved from the third to the second floor."

Harry furrowed his brows, obviously confused. "Why?"

"Dunno." But she did and it worried her. "Let's go check."

Harry nodded at her after looking for Lockhart's position, followed by a whispered ' _mischief managed_ '. He then stowed the deactivated map back in his sweatpants and they both headed down the corridor where the map indicated Lockhart to be. The only good thing was that it was _not_ close to Myrtle's bathroom – yet.

Sooner than she expected, but later than she wanted – she was _very_ impatient right now – they started to hear a lone voice echoing through the empty corridor.

"...-ere is it?! This rotten, humongous castle…"

Harry nudged her with his elbow. "Looks like you were right. He _is_ looking for something."

Rose indicated with a finger to her lips for Harry to be quiet. They inched closer to Lockhart and, once at a corner, pressed themselves against the wall. No matter how well the cloak hid them, Rose would always get the feeling that she could be found.

They rounded the corner carefully, and there he was.

Lockhart's wand was pointed at a wall, a bright light shining at its tip. With his free hand, he was searching and touching every inch of the wall. "Where would I hide it?" he muttered, his hand moving slowly and deliberately. "If I were Salazar Slytherin, _where_ would I hide it?"

That was the last confirmation she needed.

Trying to keep calm, she tugged at Harry's hand and indicated for them to head back. And while her brother accompanied her back to the entrance of her common room, she racked her brain over one question:

Why in the world would Lockhart look for the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets?


	19. An Evil Language

It had finally happened. Their second year had finally reached the point when everything would inevitably go to shite.

Lockhart was looking for the entrance of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Why? If she had to take a guess, she'd say because Lockhart was completely mad. Why else would anyone want to enter a lost, secret chamber which hid a giant basilisk from the world? Why else would someone be so obsessed with a myth which had been lost throughout the centuries?

The only good thing Rose could get out of this whole situation was the fact that even if Lockhart were to find the entrance, he'd have no chance of getting past it – short of forcing his way through with a blasting spell or something like that. Still, she wasn't even sure if blowing up the entrance would work. Maybe it was magically protected to only be opened by speaking to it in parseltongue. She certainly hoped so.

Her friends and she were waiting outside the D.A.D.A. classroom with the Ravenclaw second-years. The Defence-classes following her nightly outing with Harry were normal enough for _this_ Lockhart, but, it didn't change that – since she saw Lockhart looking for what could only be the Chamber of Secrets – she felt nervous and apprehensive whenever she had D.A.D.A.

Rose did her best to keep her cool in front of everyone else, but her stomach had been tied to knots for days now. She wished everything had just kept on going the way it had until now. No stressful adventures, just children learning magic. Those were the days.

The door opened and the knots in her stomach tightened.

"Come in, come in, dear students!" Lockhart called for them. "Today's class will be special!"

 _Oh no_.

She followed the rest of the students inside, feeling incredibly tense at Lockhart's announcement. Because of her short stature, she couldn't really see the classroom yet, but the sudden shrieks of several of the girls in front of her were as good an indication as she could get about what was waiting for them.

When she finally did see what it was that scared some of the girls so much, she felt her stomach plummet.

On their desks were glass cages, which held _snakes_.

Her movements suddenly felt stiff. Very slowly did she make her way to her desk, next to Megan, who pushed her own chair as far away from her desk as possible, crashing into Wayne and Lily behind them. She watched the snake on her desk, its forked tongue flicking out every so often, trying to catch the scent of potential prey. It was a very darkly-coloured snake with yellowish highlights just behind its head.

Rose hoped that she didn't have the ability anymore. She was actually sure that she couldn't speak parseltongue anymore, but a sudden surge of doubt because of her current circumstances was unavoidable.

What _if_ she could speak parseltongue? What would Lockhart do? Maybe _Imperius_ her to open the chamber?

She suddenly felt as if she was about to faint at any moment.

 _Harry_.

None of her friends had indicated that crazy D.A.D.A. classes with actual snakes on students' desks had already happened, so it was safe to assume that Gryffindor and Slytherin had not had to experience this yet. That meant that Harry's parseltongue-secret was still safe.

She didn't know what to do. Should she warn him? But if she did, how would she explain it? What would she say? Should she just let it ride out and only intervene wherever necessary, like when rumours would inevitably get out of hand?

And what about Lockhart? How at risk would Harry be if Lockhart found out about him being a parselmouth?

"Now, now, children," Lockhart said, "those are just simple snakes. Nothing special – aside from the fact that _these_ simple creatures have a language. One, which maybe someone here in this class can speak." He grinned at them, but Rose had a feeling that no one returned it. "I thought it would be a fun experiment. Let's try it out!"

And try out they did.

It was obvious to Rose how reluctant many were – herself included – but the general mindset appeared to be to just get it over with.

So, the class filled with the murmur of students trying to talk to snakes. To her ears, it all sounded very much English, but in the other reality, when she used to be Harry and spoke parseltongue, it had also sounded English.

She looked at the snake awkwardly. "Hi. I'm Rose." Her eyes flickered left and right, almost expecting to have every single pair of eyes fixated on her, but there was nothing. No one stared at her, no pointing fingers, no hushed whispers.

Rose allowed herself a quick breather of relief.

It looked like it was still Harry Potter who got burdened with the ability to talk with serpents.

Good thing she wasn't him anymore.

* * *

The moment she stepped into the Great Hall, she knew something was off.

She knew Harry had had his D.A.D.A. class today and she knew – well, she didn't know but she was ninety-nine per cent certain – that Harry was still a parselmouth in this reality, so she had a feeling about what was going on.

While on her way to the Hufflepuff table with her friends, she took in as much of her surroundings as possible. It quickly became apparent that most, if not all students were trying to inconspicuously look at the Gryffindor table. It also became quickly apparent that even she did receive some of the stares. Fingers were being pointed, conversations were held in hushed tones.

To her, there was only one logical conclusion, given the recent events: Harry being a parselmouth had become public knowledge.

 _Just what I bloody needed_.

Her group of friends and she took their seats at the Hufflepuff table, most of the group looking genuinely curious about what was going on.

"Potter, have you heard?" some upperclassman of her house, one she didn't recognize, asked from a few chairs down her row.

"Heard what?" Rose asked, though her stomach already felt like lead.

"Your brother's supposedly a parselmouth!" he said and gave her a look that oozed pity. She hated it and already started to feel that boiling anger and frustration in her gut. It became even worse because of her friends' shocked gasps and Megan's supporting hand on her shoulder. But she tried to be calm and rational. They didn't know any better and Megan's hand was supposed to be supportive. Lashing out now would be counterproductive.

Rose tried to look genuinely curious. "Really? I guess he did that in D.A.D.A.? Do you know what the snakes said?"

"I'd have expected you to be more shocked, considering the implications," Ernie said, giving her an odd look.

"What implications?" Rose asked, trying to sound baffled at his words. "That he can talk to animals? I think it's cool!" she said, then got up without another word and, more stiffly than she wanted, walked over to the Gryffindor table.

On her way there, she felt every look as if they were physically touching her. The whole hall knew where she was going and, more importantly, _why_ she was going there. Granted, they had seen her head to the Gryffindor table more than a few times. And yet, this time was so very different. This time, she didn't go to see her brother, Harry Potter. This time, everybody present in the hall knew that she was going to see her brother, Harry Potter – _the parselmouth_.

Once she saw Harry, her heart went out to him. From one moment to the next, a fairly well-liked, shy and nice Gryffindor had been reduced to a single oddity, an obscure ability which had been assumed dead by most. She was glad that almost no one knew that Voldemort had this ability as well. _That_ would have been really bad.

"Hey," she said and sat next to Harry after Ginny offered her chair. The youngest Weasley looked really concerned. Rose briefly wondered how Ginny's relationship with Harry had progressed, how it had changed. Things were different here after all.

"'lo," her brother offered in return, and boy, did he sound _sad_. It was heartbreaking just how _broken_ from all of this sudden scrutiny he looked. She didn't even want to mention his scowl and how he stared at his lap. It was also very likely that he was clenching his teeth and that a million things were going through his head right now.

She'd been there. She'd done that. Quite literally, in fact.

"I've heard you can talk to animals," she said, trying to sound lighthearted.

"Snakes." He let out a shaky breath. "Like Slytherin did."

"Boy, you make that sound like a death sentence." Rose cocked her head a bit to the side. "What did you talk about?" she asked. "With the snake, I mean."

Harry looked confused. "What?"

Rose, again, could feel way too many eyes on her. From Harry's year-mates like Lavender, Dean and Seamus, to his friends Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, to upperclassmen- and women and Gryffindor's firsties, she could feel _way_ too many eyes on her – and all because she didn't tell Harry that it was evil to be able to speak to snakes. All because she didn't condemn a language just because it was so incredibly rare and the last publicly known speaker of said language had a bad reputation.

She smiled at Harry. "What did the snake say? I'm really curious."

"She said she doesn't like how humans smell," Harry said slowly, still giving her that odd look as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of her question.

"That's actually interesting," Rose said and didn't even need to lie. "I wish I could speak to animals. I'm kind of jealous right now."

Now it was Ron who spoke up. "Ummm...you know parselmouth is considered-"

" _Oh please_!" Rose exploded, glaring at Ron. "Harry had a chat with a snake! A _chat_! He didn't torture or kill anybody. Just because Slytherin spoke it and...I don't even know what the problem is!" She really didn't. "Don't listen to others, Harry," she said, her attention back to her twin. "I think it's wicked." She leaned over and gave him a tight hug.

He returned it without hesitation and held onto her for dear life, making her own eyes water a bit. She wondered if this, what she and Harry had at this very moment, was something she had needed in her other reality. Just this one person to lean onto, this one person to rely on, no matter what – she wondered how different things would have been for _her_ in the other reality. Would it have been the same as it was here, for this Harry? She couldn't tell. She wasn't even sure if Death itself could tell. Life was fickle and the smallest changes could have huge consequences.

Her existence here, as Rose, was not a small change though. She knew how big of an impact her existence had on her twin. She was glad she was here. If she wasn't, she knew Harry would have had to go through the same shite she had gone.

"Thanks, Rosie," Harry said before releasing her. "It really means a lot…"

Rose snorted at that. "What did you think? That I would just point at you and call you the reincarnation of Salazar Slytherin? You should know me better than that."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, you are kind of the best."

"Thank you, Rose, for speaking some sense," Hermione threw in, waving at her from next to Ron, who was sitting between Hermione and Harry.

Rose smiled at Hermione. "You are very welcome. I should head back to my table, now." She got up from her chair and looked again at Harry. "No sulking, okay?"

Harry returned her smile. "Okay."

"Good."

* * *

Rose was disappointed that she needed to have a similar chat with her own friends, but then again, she should have expected it. It had been the same when she had been Harry in the other reality after all. All she had done was to try and make the snake stop attacking Justin, and her reward had been the scrutiny of literally everybody. And still, it was disappointing to have to sit everyone down late in the evening in their common room just to explain obvious things.

"– but Slytherin –"

"No, Ernie!" Rose interrupted him. "I just won't accept this excuse! It's a bollocks excuse to just say that a language is evil!"

"Maybe it is so, but it still is weird, you know? If what Professor Lockhart said is true and parseltongue has only ever been in Slytherin's bloodline, wouldn't that make you a descendant of him as well? That's significant, you know!"

Rose wanted to groan in frustration. She knew, of course, that Harry couldn't speak parseltongue because they were related to Salazar Slytherin in some way, but because Voldemort had left something of himself in Harry when he tried to kill him.

She had to suppress a shiver. Just the thought of someone trying to kill Harry gave her goosebumps.

But, yes, she remembered Dumbledore saying something to that extent in the other reality. Unfortunately, she couldn't explain this to Ernie. He was a nice bloke and all, but she really wanted to punch him right now for not letting this go.

"Well, I don't care!" Megan suddenly exclaimed and got up from her seat only to plop down right next to her. "You can be the descendant of You-Know-Who himself, you'd still be my bestie!" With that, the brunette pulled her into a hug and Rose wasn't sure what to say. Not even Ron had been _this_ loyal in the other reality. She didn't want to compare, but she couldn't help herself. It even made her teary-eyed.

"Thanks, Megan…"

"Don't get me wrong, please," Ernie said, holding his hands up. "I don't want to insinuate anything and you've shown yourself and I am proud to be able to call you my friend. I honestly don't care about your heritage. Just...the possibility alone is…" He just shrugged helplessly. "Not to mention the reputation of parseltongue."

"It's _just a language_ ," Rose said, groaning in frustration. "Please don't make a big deal out of it! Harry is such a nice, sweet guy and of no risk to anybody. Just because he chatted with a snake doesn't mean he's gonna throw evil curses around. _Please_."

"You've got my word, Rose," Megan said, still with an arm over her shoulders. "I've got your back. And your brother's."

"Thanks, Meg," Rose said, glad that she had befriended her.

Megan's vow was moments later followed by Susan and the rest. She shouldn't have needed to do this, but people were fickle, making big deals out of trivial things. At least Megan had proved herself to be reliable, which had led to the others quickly forgoing any doubts and ridiculous notions.

Rose hoped that it would stay that way.

And despite the headache this whole situation had given her, Rose knew that it was just a very, _very_ small issue in the bigger picture. Lockhart knew that Harry spoke parseltongue. Lockhart was looking for the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets. Once he'd find it, he now knew whom he needed to get inside.

This term was going downhill real fast.


	20. A Moment Of Calm

To say that she didn't envy Harry in the slightest these days – and when she said _these days_ she meant _ever_ – was an understatement. Despite most of the Hufflepuff's valiant efforts to show Harry their support and despite them scolding Puffs who still were giving him the side-eye, most of the student body – led by the Slytherins – were treating Harry as if he was the carrier of a deadly disease.

Sure, being a parselmouth was _rare_. She could not even list a handful of people who had that ability and those she could name were spread throughout history: Slytherin, Voldemort and her very own brother, who had only gained the ability thanks to a series of unlikely circumstances she didn't even fully understand. Add to that the unfavourable reputation being a parselmouth carried, then, yes, one would suffer the general public's scrutiny.

But still, whenever she spoke with Harry these days, she could feel it wearing on him, which was understandable of course. She wished she could have somehow prevented this, but it was what it was and they simply had to deal with this to the best of their abilities.

* * *

"Lockhart has been a huge pain in the arse since all of this, Rosie," Harry told her with a sigh when they were sitting outside by the lake, enjoying the spring weather in mid-April. The temperature was still crisp, but the sun was shining, the flowers blooming and, with a comfortable jumper, it was a great day to spend outside.

Rose looked at Harry, her head cocked to the side and her eyes squinted in suspicion. "What do you mean?"

Harry sighed, rubbing his face while making sure not to smudge his glasses. "He's...he's trying to make me look like something special. Every chance he gets he makes sure to tell people that I'm special because I can talk to snakes. Bloody nutter should just leave me alone…"

Rose agreed with her twin there. Lockhart, that nutter, should really just leave Harry alone. "Make sure to avoid him whenever you can, Harry. I don't want to sound paranoid, but I don't trust him. Remember when we snuck out? When we found him searching for something?"

Worrying his lips, Harry nodded. He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "Can I tell my friends about it?"

Her eyes widened immediately and she vehemently shook her head. "No! No, Harry. Don't drag anybody into this if you can avoid it. Who knows what might happen?" She already had suffered the consequences of dragging others into her messes once before and she certainly wouldn't make the same mistakes when she had this privilege, which her second chance at life most certainly was. "If anyone were to get hurt because of it...I wouldn't want that on my conscience, Harry, and I doubt that _you_ do."

Harry nodded immediately. "Yeah, you are right. It's just hard _not_ to share all this stuff with Ron, Hermione, Neville or Ginny." He snickered a bit, making Rose curious. "After that whole parseltongue-thing, first thing Hermione did was to run into the library and borrow seven books which mentioned anything at all about it."

Now it was Rose's turn to giggle. "I can imagine." She then sighed, looking around. It really was a beautiful day. The sun itself felt warm, but the Scottish winds kept the temperatures cool. Many students were outside, just chatting and laughing and it looked all so very peaceful. Just a bit more than a month and it would be time for everyone to head back home to their families. That was something she, too, had now. She had family right here at Hogwarts, with her – real family, in blood and genes. But, she also had family outside of Hogwarts at Grimmauld place, waiting for them to come back home. It was a good life they had, both she and Harry. The whole Lockhart thing did cast a shadow over it though. A major annoyance.

Still, they'd get past it, she was sure of it. Then, they'd have a great summer with their friends. This time, along with her fellow Hufflepuffs, she wanted to invite Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Lavender and Parvati too and make a huge day with them if possible. To top it all off, since Sirius was out of Azkaban and exonerated, there'd be no reason for Dementors at Hogwarts for their third year.

Rose scooted closer to Harry on the grass and they leaned against each other.

She just had to stay positive.

* * *

"Do any of you guys know how many points Cedric has so far?" Rose asked her friends in the common room. The rest of the girls and she were sitting around a small round table on chairs and couches. Most of the girls just shrugged and shook their heads, so she turned in desperation to Sally-Anne. "Come on, Sally-Anne, you usually know stuff."

"That's her nice way of saying that you are a huge gossip," Megan added with a snicker, earning herself a cushion to the face, courtesy of Sally-Anne.

Sally-Anne glared playfully at Megan. "Shut up! I'm collecting important knowledge!" She then turned her attention to Rose. "All I know is that they are pretty confident, but I don't have the numbers. Some girls from your boyfriend's –" "Oy! He's not!" "– class talked about it the other day in the loo."

Rose, still red-faced from Sally-Anne's offhanded boyfriend-comment, furrowed her brow at the girl. "Why didn't you say anything then?"

"Because it wasn't useful information, sweetie," Sally-Anne said. "What good would it do to you if you knew that a couple of girls from Cedric's year are confident that he'll win?"

Rose nodded at that. Sally-Anne wasn't wrong. Those girls could have just been confident because it was Cedric they were talking about – the super-popular bloke almost every girl fancied. "Guess I'll have to ask him directly," Rose mused. She then leaned back against the sofa, slipped her feet out of her sandals and tucked them under her bum. As a boy, she would have found it unbearably uncomfortable to sit this way. Now, as a girl, it was her favourite way to sit. Things certainly had changed.

"Guess you do," Megan teased with a grin, nudging her with her elbows. "You are getting awfully chummy with Mr Diggory."

"Bugger off," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "We've exchanged like, what? Ten sentences? That's hardly chummy."

"That's ten sentences more than most of the school's other girls," Hannah said, causing the rest to giggle.

Rose looked at the girls, a bit annoyed at the ridiculousness. "You can all bugger off!"

Megan leaned against her. "We are just teasing, silly!"

Rose huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Most of the time she felt like she was twelve herself, forgetting her own mind's and memory's age, but sometimes – like this time – she missed just being a fifteen-year-old boy chatting about quidditch with his fifteen-year-old friends.

At least Susan was not joining in on this whole thing. At least she was as mature as her.

Sally-Anne cocked a brow at her, then shook her head. "Laugh a little, Rose. Why are you even so bothered by it?"

Rose sighed and deflated visibly. "Sorry…" This was all so stupid. Her friends weren't even at fault. They were all just having fun and this time it was at her expense. "I didn't mean to be a killjoy." She shouldn't have lashed out like that.

"What's the matter then?" Susan asked, looking genuinely concerned, but that was Susan for you, always worrying about others.

"Just...a bit of everything, I guess." Rose shrugged. It probably wasn't even a lie; not really anyway.

"Hormones, I bet," Lily said.

"Puberty sucks," Megan added with a groan.

 _Yeah, hormones._ It was an easy out for her – easy to just blame it on the hormones wreaking havoc in her pubescent body's brain.

"What're you guys talking about?" Roger asked when he and the rest of the boys joined them.

"Puberty and my hormones," Rose answered in as deadpan a way as she could manage.

Wayne hadn't even sat down yet when he turned around and left to find a separate table for himself and the other boys. "Yup, I'm out."

He quickly was joined by the other four who had intended to join the girls-table and Rose couldn't help but laugh loudly. _That_ was such a typical boy thing to do. She had been there, after all, and she had most certainly done that. Girls talking about their developing bodies were scary.

Now she was one of those scary girls.

"Why'd you chase them away like that?" Sally-Anne asked, giggling while watching Roger, Ernie and the others.

"Why not?" Rose asked in return, still giggling herself.

Scaring boys away with talks about a girl's puberty and hormones was definitely better than having to endure the teasing about her and potential boyfriends, no matter their names.

* * *

The next day, she still had no idea how many points Cedric had collected so far. She needed to know because she desperately wanted to play that match. She needed to make up for that loss against Gryffindor.

So, during breakfast, she scoped out the Hufflepuff table, hoping to catch sight of her rival for that seeker-spot. She couldn't sit still in her chair, always looking up and down the long table and, after still not seeing him anywhere, her eyes darted to the Great Hall's entrance the badgers were using for breakfast. And then, when there was _still_ no sight of him, she repeated the whole process.

Rose exhaled noisily through her nose. "Where the bloody hell is he? Does he want to _starve_?"

"Who are you even talking about?" Roger asked her, a brow raised. "Besides, the Great Hall is still half empty. We got here not even ten minutes ago."

"I'm looking for Cedric," Rose said, still on the lookout for him. "I'm going to ask him how many points he has already."

"You are really taking this seriously," Ernie said, giving her an appraising look. "Didn't peg you for someone this competitive."

Rose waved him off. "I'm not really _competitive_ , but I really want to play this match. It bothers me a lot that I lost against Gryffindor."

Megan cocked her head to the side. "You were unlucky though."

"Which makes it worse, because I had a real chance…" Rose trailed off and quickly got up from her seat upon seeing her target enter the Great Hall. "There he is! About time!"

"Go get him, tiger," Megan said with a wink, making her groan inwardly.

She got up from her seat to intercept Cedric. Walking towards him with purpose, it didn't take long for Rose to gain Cedric's attention and, when she did, he gave her a curious smile.

"Morning, Rose. What's up?"

"Hey, Cedric. Can we talk for a moment?" she asked him with a wide smile.

He looked startled. "Umm, sure, but I'm really starving…"

"No problem, we can talk while you eat," Rose said and grabbed the sleeve of his uniform, dragging him towards a few empty chairs a few rows away from her friends. She really didn't need their undivided attention, which she surely would have earned had she dragged Cedric towards there. Instead, she just had to bear the smiles and smirks of Cedric's friends. She could deal with those. After all, once her chat with Cedric was done, their ways would part once more and she'd barely ever see him and the other fourth-years outside of the common room.

As soon as they were seated – Cedric and she next to each other and his friends across from them – she turned to look at him, tuning out the chatter of the others. "How many points do you have so far?" Rose asked without much preamble.

"Oh wow, all that before just to ask about his points?" one of the other fourth years said. "Sheesh."

"Excuse me?" Rose looked at the bloke and made hand-motions between Cedric and herself, indicating that they were talking and she'd rather not be interrupted. The bloke held up his hands in surrender, so Rose returned her attention to Cedric. "So, your points?"

Cedric, while stuffing his face with sausage, turned to look at her. She raised a brow at him, waiting for him to swallow his mouthful.

Once he could finally speak, he gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. As I said, I was starving." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, my points...currently, I'm standing at ninety-seven points earned after a bit over a month." He looked mighty proud of himself while she felt her stomach clench.

"Ninety-seven?" She bit her bottom lip. "You are ahead by five."

Cedric nodded, but he didn't look elated or anything else of that sort. He took it rather stoically. Rose wasn't sure if she could have stopped herself from at least looking very smug, had she been in his place. Then again, this was the Cedric the whole school knew and loved. He won with grace and lost with grace. Gloating just was not his style. Gloating was more like Draco's style. And her own style apparently, if her own thoughts were any indication. She couldn't remember being that way when she used to be Harry.

"Nothing lost and nothing won yet, then," he said.

"Yep. Alright then, I'll leave you to your breakfast," Rose said, about to get up, but Cedric stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I meant to ask a while ago how your brother is holding up. You know, with everything going on…" He shrugged. "I don't know him, but I know you, so, I figured I should ask if everything is okay or if he needs anything."

She couldn't help but smile as she sat down again. Good old Cedric. "I won't lie and say it's been easy for Harry, but the worst is behind him, at least."

Cedric sighed, leaning back into his chair after finishing his breakfast. "I think it's a bit harsh of people to go and point fingers like that, you know? First, Harry didn't hurt anyone or insult anyone and secondly, being able to speak that language – no matter its reputation – is not something he had any control over."

"It's ignorance," Gabriel Truman, one of the prefects who escorted her year to the common room when they were still firsties, threw in, a few chairs down, next to Cedric. "We basically all grew up knowing nothing about parseltongue, aside from Salazar Slytherin being the last known person who had been able to speak it and that Slytherin didn't want muggle-borns at Hogwarts. And those weird fun facts Lockhart told us during D.A.D.A., if you know what I mean."

"It's mostly that snotty Malfoy-brat who keeps riling people up, though," one of the fourth years said. "I've seen him spout nonsense whenever your brother's near him, Potter."

"What kind of nonsense?" Rose asked, feeling her blood pressure rise already.

The bloke shrugged. "You know, things like 'watch out, m-words, Slytherin's heir is coming to get you, he'll sic snakes at you', yadda yadda." He then chuckled. "McGonagall saw him say the m-word and took a hundred points from him. That was fun."

She wanted to kick that blonde, slimy little turd in his bollocks, but, for now, she had to keep her cool. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it," Rose said, this time no one stopping her from getting up." She looked at Cedric, giving him a mock-punch on his shoulder. This time she reached it comfortably without having to stretch. She was glad, considering how tall Cedric already was for his age. "Thank you for not being one of those who think that my brother is evil now."

He chuckled in return, giving her a half-smile. "Don't worry about it. And my offer stands – if you guys need anything, just ask."

"I'll keep that in mind. See ya," she said with a wave.

Cedric really was one of a kind. Such a nice bloke.


	21. Down

The days and weeks until the deadline Rose and Cedric had set themselves would arrive were passing by quickly and Rose knew that she had to step up her game a lot. It wasn't like she hadn't applied herself more than usual in class since this competition between Cedric and her had started. Even before their competition, in her opinion at least, she had been very active in class. Cedric Diggory had simply proved himself to be a challenging opponent.

She would prevail, though. She was sure of it. She was even more active now, her essays were of the best possible quality she could offer and she got every practical application of each lesson right at the first try. Granted, she was cheating there a bit – considering all of her memories.

Ultimately, it would all come down to the last few metres.

"Very well done again, Ms Potter."

Rose couldn't help but be smug at Professor McGonagall's praise. However, she wasn't sure _why_ she couldn't help it. She certainly had never been like this in the other reality, in her previous life. In that reality, it would all have been too much attention for her, and she had hated every second of it. It had made her uncomfortable. She _still_ hated attention, there was no doubt there – if it was the wrong kind of attention, at least.

Being praised for something she did well? She _loved_ that and basked in it. She soaked it up. Whether it was teachers telling her that she had done her work well or her Quidditch captain telling her that she had flown well, she just _loved_ it. Where exactly that new part of her personality came from she couldn't tell, but that was okay. Her acceptance of her new self was growing with each passing day, her personality changes – no matter how marginal – and her new quirks as Rose included.

She didn't find herself freaking out over every girlish thing anymore. The worst had pretty much passed with her starting her period at the beginning of the term and she had gotten used to it by now. Thankfully, she only got mild cramps – unlike Susan for example, who appeared to be on her death-bed every month for a week, even with pain-relieving potions. Rose didn't want to imagine how that poor girl would be feeling without them.

"Know-it-all…"

Rose narrowed her eyes at that and turned towards the voice, seeing Malfoy and his two gorillas snickering. "Know...nothing-all…" she muttered under her breath and only when those words had left her mouth did she realize how dumb they actually sounded.

"What?" Megan asked and gave her a confused look.

"Please forget you ever heard that, Meg," Rose said, her cheeks flushing red. She was just glad that it wasn't anyone else who had heard her comeback, otherwise, she'd have to ask Death for another trip in time.

She wished her Rose-self wasn't as bad as her Harry-self at comebacks.

* * *

The day had finally arrived. It was time to see who would be the seeker for Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. Would it be Cedric? Or would she actually have managed to catch up on those five points he had been leading with?

Rose would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous. Sure, if she wouldn't get to play against Ravenclaw, it obviously wouldn't devastate her or ruin the past term for her or anything like that. Nevertheless, she would be disappointed not to get the opportunity to redeem herself after that loss against Harry and his Gryffindors.

But, now, it was time. Cedric, his friends, the Quidditch team, _her_ friends and she were all gathered in the common room, plus a few more curious people and those invested in Hufflepuff's Quidditch team. The noise and chatter of the rest – those who did not care all that much about who would be the seeker for the next match – was calming for Rose. It'd definitely be worse if she would have had to deal with the whole of Hufflepuff being curious about their competition's result. But, thankfully, most of the upper-years, which included the fifth-years and above, didn't particularly care. No matter how popular Cedric was, even he flew under the radar of those students.

"Rose?"

She looked up at Cedric, clutching the small and folded piece of parchment in her hands. "I'm ready, Cedric."

"Do both of you promise to have been absolutely fair?" their team captain Maxine O'Flaherty, who took on the role of the impartial referee, asked. "No undeserved and unearned extra points _accidentally_ included in your totals?"

"Yes." "Yep."

"Alright, I'll trust both of you. _If_ , however, at a later time, it should come to my attention that either of you has actually cheated here, that person will be kicked from the team, no questions asked. Understood?"

Both Cedric and she glanced at each other and nodded. The time had come. They put their pieces of parchment on the table and took a step back. Maxine took their place and grabbed the parchment on the left, unfolding it. "Cedric Diggory...one-hundred-and-thirty-two points."

_Yes_! Just out of respect, she tried her best to not break out in jubilation and at least wait for Maxine to read her points out loud as well, but she had actually, bloody done it. And once her one-hundred-and-thirty-five points had been announced, she whooped freely. She could feel her friends throw their arms around her and jump up and down in excitement while she pumped her fists in victory. But then, she turned to look at Cedric and, despite his gracious smile and doing his best to not be a sore loser, she could see the disappointment in his eyes clear as day. It made her feel a bit bad to celebrate the way she did.

She retracted herself from her still ecstatic friends and walked over to her 'rival'. "Well played, Cedric. You really had me worried for most of the time."

He just chuckled at her and gave her a mock punch on her shoulder, making her stagger backwards a bit and Rose wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered that he mimicked her like that. He sighed. "Can't say that it doesn't sting a bit, but you won fair and square." Then, he gave her quite the cocky grin. "Next term it's going to be my turn, though."

Rose grinned back, resting a hand on a cocked hip. "Not if I have to say anything about that."

"I definitely hope that you won't hold back just because you feel bad," he said. "Anyway, I've still got a bunch of homework to do. Catch that snitch for us, will ya? It'll do us good to have a positive win-loss ratio for once."

She nodded in return. "I'll do my best."

With a lazy wave, Cedric and his friends returned to their table, his friends giving him comforting pats on his back. It really made her feel bad, but as he'd said – she'd won fair and square. Just a few points less, and she'd be in his position. She'd definitely make it up to him with a win against Ravenclaw and Cho Chang though.

* * *

Matchday had arrived and the game was on the brink of ending.

She wasn't sure for how long this match was going on already, but it definitely felt longer than the Gryffindor match. It was just as wild though.

Rose dodged the oncoming bludger, hot on Cho's heels – or the end of Cho's broom. Both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had been trading blows like mad and it had been clear early on that it would come down to the seekers to decide this match. Now that decisive moment was upon them as Cho was chasing the snitch and Rose was catching up to her rapidly. Her hair was whipping about wildly behind her in the wind and her surroundings were blurring, her vision narrowed down to only the Ravenclaw's seeker and the small, winged and golden ball she was chasing. The excited roars of the crowd and Lee Jordan's commentary disappeared in the whistling wind while Cho and she were chasing their target. The golden gleam of the snitch, with its rapid and erratic movements, forced wild manoeuvres out of them and Rose was impressed that Cho was able to keep up this breakneck flight.

A sudden dive of the snitch had them both fly ever closer towards the ground, but both she and Cho kept their cool and pulled up again effortlessly. Rose inched closer to her opponent with every passing moment, her faster broom showing its quality with her pushing it to, and even beyond, its limits. Cho tried to fend her off at first, but Rose finally managed to catch up, flying next to Cho after the snitch now. She glanced at her opponent on her left, surprised at the concentrated glare on the beautiful girl's face.

"I won't let you win this, Potter!" Rose heard her shout. "And I won't let you have Cedric!"

Her brain stopped to a halt.

_What?_ _Let her have Cedric?!_

Rose shook her head and just in time too, because she was about to crash into the stands. She made a sharp turn, her stomach turning into lead when she saw how far behind Cho she had fallen in those few precious moments. She urged her broom to fly as fast as it could, but Cho's raised hand and Madam Hooch's whistle crushed any and all hope for redemption. Her second game as Hufflepuff's seeker ended as a second loss.

Rose followed the other players towards the ground and as soon as her feet hit grass she let herself drop onto her bum, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees and her tear-streaked cheeks hidden in her arms. She was sniffling uncontrollably and tried her best to suppress the sobs threatening to break through. She didn't want to cry but felt _so_ terrible. She couldn't believe how easily Cho had played her, how easily a few words had thrown her off. Such a stupid, little thing and it had worked on her.

But then, hadn't she always been like this? Even in her previous life? Malfoy saying just a few, little things and she'd lose her temper. Granted, she didn't lose her temper that easily anymore, but all those offhanded comments about Cedric and her being awfully chummy did grind on her nerves and she hadn't expected anything of that sort from Cho.

She jerked at a sudden hand squeezing her shoulder. Looking up from her lonesome position on the ground, she saw her teammates gathered around her, all looking pretty down but none disappointed or even angry with her, something that made the whole situation almost worse.

"What happened, Rose?" Maxine asked her after sitting down next to her. Her tone was kind, calm and patient as if nothing had happened at all.

Rose sighed and wiped her eyes and cheeks with the sleeve of her jersey. "Cho just...said _something_ and threw me off. I feel so _stupid_."

Maxine cocked her head to the side. "So, some trash-talking got to you?"

_Trash-talking_. _Right._ But it did sound better than what it actually was. "Yeah."

"Learn from it, Rose. You are only twelve and still have five years to go. Enough time to pull off an upset and give Hufflepuff the Quidditch cup," her team-captain said with a wink, before turning serious. "I'm not mad and I don't think any of the rest is. We played some fantastic Quidditch this year and were at least equal in every match. There's some great talent here and I see a great team for next season. Don't let this drag you down, okay? Next year you'll catch that blasted snitch."

Rose felt even more like crying now, her chin wobbling violently as her head jerked in an awkward nod. She didn't even know why this loss bothered her _so_ much. Not even when her Nimbus had been blown into the Whomping Willow in third year in her previous life had she felt like crying. She'd been more...dead inside. But this, now...was it severely wounded pride? Was it a girl thing? Whatever it was, it sucked.

After a few more moments, she felt herself calm down, glad that she hadn't actually broken down into sobbing hysterically; a few silent tears certainly were more than enough for a school Quidditch match. Looking around, she was surprised to not see Harry anywhere in the crowd that had gathered on the field by now. She'd have expected her twin to come and try to make her feel better.

"Have you guys seen Harry anywhere?" she asked her teammates. They all shook their heads, though, except for Tamsin Applebee.

"I saw him walk over here but Lockhart talked with him," the chaser said and Rose immediately forgot all of her small, tiny, unimportant and irrelevant worries.

"W-with Lockhart, you say?" _This is bad. So, so bad._ "Alright then...I'll, uh, I'll go and see what's what. I'll shower in the dorms." She got up to her feet, hyper-aware of the confused looks of her teammates and her own wobbly knees. With a quick wave, Rose immediately made for the castle, ignoring the jeers from the Slytherins and encouraging words from her fellow Hufflepuffs. Her steps were hasty at first, her eagerness to dodge her friends certainly helping, but once she felt she had put enough distance between herself and the Quidditch pitch, she started to actually sprint. Within a few short moments, she reached the castle's entrance, practically barging inside, and even out of breath, she didn't stop running. Her legs and lungs were burning as she ran up the stairs to the second floor, and she was drenched in sweat by the time she had finally reached Myrtle's bathroom. She quickly got inside and her heart dropped to the floor when she saw the entrance to the chamber opened.

"Bollocks, bollocks, _bollocks_!" This was _so_ bad. Harry was down there with this weird version of Lockhart and she didn't even know what to expect. Taking a quick look around the bathroom, she saw a few sheets of parchment strewn across. Frowning, she grabbed one and her frown deepened. Without having to take the time to properly read through this she saw that it was a sheet of Lockhart's notes – his flowing, neat handwriting was a dead giveaway – and it seemingly was about the Chamber of Secrets. She then looked back at the entrance, steeling herself. Since what she had gone through here the first time she went down to rescue Ginny, she had done her best to avoid this lavatory as much as she could. If she didn't absolutely have to, she even avoided walking past it. Now, she was here again. Again in her second year, again on a rescue mission. Her heart was pounding violently and she felt herself sway slightly.

Exhaling slowly and shakily, she stepped towards the hole and, swallowing thickly, allowed herself to drop and slide down into the basilisk's lair.


	22. Inside The Chamber

Only when she reached the end of the entrance tunnel and landed on her bum did she realize that she didn't have her wand with her.

_Bollocks._

She sighed, running a shaky hand through her hair. Nothing could be done about that now, so she started walking, hoping beyond hope that Harry was okay. Not because she used to be him in a different reality, not because he was the Boy-Who-Lived. She wanted him to be okay because she _cared_ about him. She may have been Harry Potter in another life but it was in the past. _This_ Harry Potter was someone else from who she used to be. Similar to who she used to be in many ways, yet so different. She had grown fond of him, she had to admit. He was the sibling she used to crave for. Now she had him and she'd definitely not lose him now. Not now, not after coming to accept basically _everything_ about this life, not after overcoming all of her initial struggles.

The tunnel system quickly grew darker and her regret over forgetting her wand was palpable. She reached out a hand to touch the oddly moist walls as a way of navigation. Thanks to her memories she was taking very wary steps in hopes of avoiding the various animal bones she knew were strewn across or the metres-long, shed basilisk skin.

The air was as stuffy as she remembered, but the stench of animal poop and rot, which was burnt deeply into her memories, was not there. Perhaps because the basilisk hadn't run havoc this time around. She definitely wasn't complaining though.

Thankfully, the tunnel system was pretty straightforward, so before long, she saw an eerie green light. She was about to hasten her steps when a sudden, loud thud startled her, dirt falling from the tunnel's roof as a result. She gulped, exhaled quickly and kept walking. Whatever was going on, her twin was okay, she was sure of it. She had to believe.

The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was now visible, the intertwined snakes separated because the door was opened. She could hear the loud hissing of the basilisk and the sound of spells fired in rapid succession as well as the odd explosion. Lights, sparks, dust and smoke – they all were evidence of the battle going on and Rose had a strong gut feeling about who it was fighting Slytherin's monster. She set off in a sprint, almost slipping on the slick and wet ground, and entered Salazar Slytherin's hidden chamber.

Her gut feeling proved itself right. There, at the far end of the chamber, she saw the gigantic monster lunging for Lockhart, who had an almost manic grin on his face as he sent spells at it so quickly she could barely keep track of them. His usually immaculate self looked dishevelled, his golden locks wild and his designer dress robes dusty, dirty and torn. Closer to the entrance, she saw Harry and her heart plummeted so fast, she felt sick to her stomach. Quickly rushing to his side, she dropped to her knees, grasping her twin's frozen hand. She should feel relieved that he was just petrified, that there were so many puddles in this place, but the look of terror on his face, the way his hand felt stiff and unnatural in hers – it was so wrong.

She felt angry.

Very angry.

Looking around, she saw her brother's wand lying a bit away from him. Scrambling up after another quick glance at Harry, she went for the wand, marvelling at how unfamiliar and odd it felt. She then turned towards the still ongoing battle, spotting Lockhart.

Rose snarled at the glee on his face while her brother was lying frozen on the dirty floor of this place. " _Stupify_!" she yelled.

She was unable to suppress the look of surprise when Lockhart dodged her spell effortlessly. He then dodged again, but this time another lunge from the humongous beast, which crashed into a pillar, causing it to collapse and forcing a roll from Lockhart to avoid being crushed. The basilisk kept hissing angrily and only now did Rose see the blood seeping from its deadly eyes – they had been slashed.

"Look at this magnificent creature, Miss Potter!" Lockhart shouted, his voice bordering on insane. "My Everest!" He shot a quick, silent spell at it, but it did not penetrate its scales. "Slaying this will make me immortal! My name, my legacy, it will last forever –" Lockhart dodged another of the basilisk's attacks and took a moment to look at her, his eyes and voice murderous. "– and you will not take this away from me."

"You are insane!" Rose yelled at him. All of this for his legacy?! She shot another stunning spell at him, though he erected a _protego_ to block it with the ease of years of obvious experience and the blink of an eye later he dove away from the basilisk's bite.

Lockhart just scoffed at her. "Insane are those who settle with mediocrity!" Another flurry of spells was sent towards Slytherin's monster and still, nothing penetrated its scales. It just appeared to be getting madder and madder. With a hissing roar, it reared its head then lunged forward and through another pillar, sending rubble and rocks flying everywhere. Lockhart slid away from a boulder-like piece of the pillar and she was forced to roll away too.

"Extraordinary," she heard Lockhart say as the dust settled. "A pity its scales are only rivalled by dragons' scales when it comes to resistance to magic. A pity it has to end like this."

Rose furrowed her brows. "Bloody hell are you on about?" she asked out loud, though he didn't answer her. Instead, she heard a rooster's crow.

Immediately following that, she heard the most dreadful sounds of pain she had ever heard anything make: a voiceless, breathless gurgling cry of anger and agony and all throughout the rooster kept crowing. Before the dust from before had any chance to settle more was created by the giant snake's pained trashing. Thick, muscled flesh kept crashing into pillars and walls.

Rose tried to get as far away from it as she could, the heavy dust making breathing and seeing a painful act. All she could do was to scramble and crawl towards Harry's general direction to protect him from any rubble that may or may not fly his way.

Before she had reached him, however, a thud, which shook the entire ground, echoed through the chamber, followed by silence.

Then, laughter. Gleeful, euphoric laughter. "I have done it! I have found and slain a basilisk! Slytherin's basilisk! Thousands of years old!"

_This bloke…is worse than the Lockhart I remember._

"Now, what to do with you, Miss Potter?"

 _Ah, bollocks._ Rose heard steps approaching her. "Just...bugger off."

"I would if I could, but I very much doubt I should." Lockhart was standing in front of her now, looking oddly regretful. "I really don't like doing this. It's necessary, though, Miss Potter. You and your brother will have to say goodbye to your memories. If word got out about this, it would look bad on my resumé, don't you think?"

Rose gave him a deadpan look. "You released this – this _thing_ in a school full of children just to kill it for your own ego. Bloody hell did you think it would look like?!" Her grip on Harry's wand tightened, her muscles taut and ready to spring at a moment's notice.

"That's fair, but it was a risk I was willing to take." Lockhart shrugged elegantly and gave her his infuriating grin. "You've dragged this –"

With lightning-fast reflexes Lockhart erected a silent _protego_ behind himself and immediately moved away from her, probably as a way to keep her in his vision range. By doing so, he revealed the attacker to her, and Rose couldn't help but be stunned. If anyone were to come here to help and maybe save them she'd have expected it to be Professors Dumbledore or McGonagall, maybe Sprout considering she was a Puff. But _Snape_? _By himself_? That was quite the surprise. She locked eyes with him, just for a blink of a moment, then he quickly eyed the dead basilisk before his attention settled on Lockhart, who was standing battle-ready, his wand aimed at Snape, though his eyes flickered over to her every other moment.

"Professor Snape," Lockhart greeted the potions professor. "I certainly didn't expect to see you here."

Snape squinted his eyes, just barely. "I have come to collect the children. What have you done to Potter?"

"As you can see, she is perfe-"

"The boy."

"Ah." Lockhart played again that rueful role. "That's not on me. That's on the basilisk, though I think Mr Potter got lucky since he saw its eyes through a puddle. _I think_."

Rose felt her anger resurface and got back up to her feet, her wand-arm shaking. "Why'd you drag Harry down here anyway?" she asked, her voice shaking. _How did you get him to open all of Slytherin's locks?_

He flashed her his brilliantly white teeth with a brilliantly fake grin. "I needed him and his... _special talent_. He was _compelled_ to oblige."

 _Compelled to?_ She figured it had to have been a compulsion charm, though she wondered when and how exactly he had had the opportunity to use it on Harry. In the middle of a large group of students would have been risky, but then again, this Lockhart was a whole lot more dangerous than the one she had been used to.

She glanced back down at the petrified form of her twin, a twinge shooting through her heart. He didn't deserve to be used like that. Growling, she turned around without any warning and aimed her wand at Lockhart. " _Expelliarmus!_ "

Lockhart dodged her spell just in time and created yet another _protego_ in one smooth motion to block a stunner from Snape. Rose had already risked quite a bit when she had tried to _stupefy_ him earlier, a spell she, a second-year, shouldn't know. Thankfully, Lockhart hadn't commented on it, but she sure as hell wouldn't take the same risk with Snape. So, she decided to simply spam the disarming spell.

Lockhart proved himself to be an ingenious duelist, however. He transfigured a pile of rubble into a solid wall in front of himself, then went on to conjure a swarm of wasps, and said swarm rushed towards her. Her eyes widened in panic, but that quickly vanished when Snape incinerated them with a fireball, the heat washing over her. Snape then blasted Lockhart's wall with the exploding charm, sending debris flying everywhere and Rose cringed, fully expecting Snape to have gone overkill here and guts and body-parts to be lying about, but nothing of the sort was to be seen once the dust had settled.

Lockhart was gone.

"I will levitate your brother, Potter."

Rose turned to look at Snape to see him doing as he said, levitating Harry's frozen form. "How'd you know to get down here, Sir?" she asked him.

"I was taking a walk and saw the entrance, so I decided to investigate. Finding you, your brother and Gilderoy Lockhart was pure coincidence."

She'd believe that the Dursleys were good-hearted people before she'd believe this story.

* * *

It had been quite some time since she had spent any time in the castle's hospital wing. With the help of Snape's _Patronus_ – which, curiously enough, happened to be a doe – they got a message to Dumbledore, who then, or so she assumed, sent Fawkes to collect them. She really liked the phoenix and hadn't seen him in a while; an incredibly elegant and intelligent animal.

The headmaster had waited in the hospital wing for them and she had given him a quick rundown on what had transpired, minus the reason why she had suspected Lockhart in the first place. Now, she was sitting in a hospital bed and waiting for news on Harry. Even though she knew what to expect, which would be the need for the _Mandrake Restorative Draught_ , she hoped to be surprised. The chances, in her opinion, weren't even bad. The mandrakes should be past maturity by now, so using their roots for the potion should not be an issue. Maybe there could already be a few stocked?

She knew she didn't need to worry, but she still did.

The door to the hospital wing swung open, startling her. Before she could do anything, she was suddenly enveloped in the strong and gentle arms of her godfather, and she just sagged against him. It didn't matter to her when or how he heard about what happened or how he arrived here so quickly. The fact that he was here trumped anything. She didn't even think about him, her mind occupied with Harry's wellbeing, but now, that Sirius was here, she knew she needed his presence more than anything else.

"Are you alright, Rose? Are you hurt? Do you need anything? Just say –"

"I'm fine, Sirius," she said and gently retracted herself from his embrace. She looked at him, his eyes filled with worry and fear. "I'm fine, I promise. I barely did anything down there."

He pressed a kiss against her forehead. "Don't do something that stupid again, okay?"

"No promises." She grinned at him, but that went away quickly again. "Is Harry going to be okay?" _Is the draught ready?_

Sirius sighed and sat down on her bed next to her, pulling her into his side. "They said he's petrified and for that, there's a draught they have to make. Around next week he should be the same, old Harry again."

She nodded. So, she would have to wait for a week. That was okay. Of course, she'd rather he'd be woken up _now_ , but a week wasn't so bad.

She was startled again by a violently opened door of the hospital wing, and she was sure the angry vein on Madam Pomfrey's forehead was _this_ _close_ to attacking people.

"Rose!" Megan immediately rushed to her and pulled her into a hug, which she returned with equal gusto. "We just heard what happened! Lockhart cursed your brother?!"

That was what Dumbledore was going with? It looked like the Chamber of Secrets would have to remain secret in this life as well.

"Kind of." She looked at her friends, shrugging at the unconvinced looks she was getting. "He'll be okay in about a week or so I've been told."

Before they could say anything else, Madam Pomfrey ushered them back outside. Sirius had to leave as well and she was given a light sleeping potion. She was sure she'd need it too.


	23. After The Chamber

A week had passed and Rose and Sirius were waiting by Harry's bed. The draught was finished and had already been given to Harry, though Rose had been in class at that time. Now they were waiting for it to take effect and for Harry to wake up.

She almost couldn't believe how much she had missed him this past week. Just a year ago, everything was weird and crazy. Now, she missed her twin because he had been petrified by a basilisk's indirect deadly gaze.

...okay, everything was still crazy, but, yes, she missed Harry a lot. Just seeing him in the Great Hall, laughing and joking with his friends, living a normal life – it made her feel content with everything. To not see that during every breakfast or dinner...it felt wrong.

It was all over now, however, and Harry was on the brink of returning. Just thinking about all the bad and sad of the past week didn't help and just put a downer on her mood. Instead, she took Harry's glasses from the table next to his bed the moment she noticed a low shimmer coming from his body, which likely was an indicator of the potion's magic working. Just seconds later, it was gone, and she held her breath until a low groan came from her twin, his eyes blinking and squinting against the bright light of the sun shining into the room.

Sirius and she grinned at each other, waiting for Harry to get his bearings. He then turned his head towards them, his eyes still slightly squinted.

"...Ginny?"

Rose's grin dropped in the blink of an eye while Sirius couldn't stop his snort, followed by barking laughter.

" _Really_ , Harry?" She put his glasses on his flushing face, more roughly than necessary. " _Really_? We don't even look anything alike. Our hair colour isn't even _that_ similar. Hers is a brighter red. Mine is dark red. _Really_?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" He groaned again, though this time it was more out of embarrassment, she assumed, and he _should_ feel embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I...just thought that...I dunno, I didn't have my glasses and I just saw red hair and thought of Ginny!"

Rose huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "And not of your twin-sister? Who also has red hair? To think I risked my life for you..."

At that, Harry suddenly sat up. "Bloody hell! Lockhart! What happened?!"

With a sigh, Rose leaned back against her chair. Sirius, too, lost all signs of humour, not laughing anymore.

Leaning forward on his chair, her godfather looked earnestly at her twin. "Do you remember Rose's Quidditch match? Do you remember interacting with Lockhart in any way?"

Her arms still crossed over her chest, Rose looked at Harry, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"I don't know," he finally said with a shrug. "I just remember feeling...this _need_ to help him." He looked at them with worry in his eyes. "He...he made me release that thing, didn't he?"

"It wasn't your fault, Harry," Rose said, now leaning forward and taking Harry's hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Lockhart is dangerous and insane. He came to Hogwarts to find that monster and to kill it for his, and I quote, 'legacy'. He didn't care about others who may or may not get in his way."

Harry settled back on his bed, staring at the cold, white ceiling of the hospital wing. He hadn't let go of her hand yet, though.

"You can't feel guilty about this," Sirius said, brushing Harry's hair from his forehead. "You are just a twelve-year-old kid who enjoyed a Quidditch match. That a teacher, of all things, would do something like that was...let's just call it 'unexpected'. The staff didn't expect it, not even Dumbledore did. You, then, certainly couldn't have expected it."

Harry just shrugged, but still frowned at the ceiling. It annoyed her, especially because it was so familiar. So, Rose did the only thing she could think of: she pressed her fingernails as hard as she could into Harry's palms.

"Ow!" Harry quickly pulled his hand from hers. "Bloody hell, Rose?!" He glared at her while rubbing the inside of his hand.

She squinted her eyes at him. " _Stop sulking_."

"Well, sorry for feeling bad about not being strong enough to resist whatever Lockhart did to me!"

She had hoped that her twin didn't have the same hero-complex-thing going on that she did. She had also hoped he wouldn't be like her and shoulder all the responsibility of things gone wrong by himself, but here they were and he was doing exactly that.

"Don't be stupid, Harry," she said with a sigh. "No matter how strong you are, if you are caught off-guard then you won't stand a chance against anybody."

"That's right, little man," Sirius said. "Listen to your sister. There's even an investigation going on against Lockhart on the down-low – don't tell anybody I told you – because Bones thinks that he might have pulled stunts like that more often than not for his adventures." He ran a hand through his hair. "It's likely he harmed many, _many_ people on his path to fame and glory. A twelve-year-old kid? Piece of cake for the likes of him. No offence," he added with a small chuckle.

"I guess…" Harry returned his gaze back to the ceiling, though his brows weren't as furrowed anymore. It wasn't quite what she had hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

Neither of the three of them said anything for a while, Rose's hands now folded on her lap while she had a leg crossed over the other, her foot bobbing up and down lazily. She tried to see the positive of the events of last week, though it was really difficult to do so. Sure, no one had been harmed and they had made it out somehow, but it had been a close call. If the puddles hadn't been there –

"Harry, did you avoid the basilisk's eyes because you knew what they did or was it a coincidence that you saw them only through a puddle?" she asked him.

Harry looked at her with slight confusion. "A basilisk? That's what it was?" He then looked like he was trying to remember. "I...I think Lockhart said to not look into its eyes. I think he tried to blind it with a spell, too."

"It doesn't matter to me whether he told you or not," Sirius growled. "He's a dead man, and I won't make it a quick death."

Rose just raised her brows at him. "You really want to go back to Azkaban that quickly?" she asked him, and he deflated immediately. "You do realize we'll be forced to go back to the Dursleys, then, and I definitely don't want that. So, I'll have to try to bust you out of Azkaban, and then I'll get caught and end up in Azkaban myself. Do you want _that_ on your conscience?"

Sirius threw his head back in barking laughter before pulling her roughly into her side. "Whichever bloke you'll end up marrying, he's going to have his work cut out for him!"

_Bloke?! Marriage?!_ She didn't even want to _think_ about any of those things! She coughed, her face suddenly so hot she felt like she could fry eggs on it. "Let's...not."

"Just messing with you," Sirius said and ruffled her hair, messing it up in the process. "There's a more pressing matter that needs to be dealt with anyway," he said seriously, gaining both her and Harry's attention. "When you said 'Ginny', did you mean the Weasley girl?"

Rose snorted in laughter while Harry blushed, groaned and disappeared beneath his blanket.

* * *

Their journey back home was a more subdued affair than usual, probably because the entirety of the wizarding world was still in shock about the news of Gilderoy Lockhart 'cursing' the Boy-Who-Lived. The fact that Slytherin had won the house-cup _and_ the Quidditch cup probably added to the quieter nature of the train-ride. It annoyed Rose that her competition with Cedric had only helped them to claim the runner-up spot and that Gryffindor had been beaten by Slytherin in the final Quidditch match of the year because Harry hadn't been cleared to play. He had been fine! However, Madam Pomfrey was adamant on her better-safe-than-sorry-approach. Now, they would have to suffer through an entire term of gloating from Malfoy and his cronies.

It couldn't be changed, though, and she was sure that her house, as well as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, would step up their game come next term.

But first, she had a summer to enjoy, which included her and Harry's upcoming birthday. She had already asked Sirius whether she could invite a bunch of people and, since he had been fine with it, she had already prepared a mental list. Now she just had to hope that not everyone would be away this year.

"So, who's free on July 31st?" she asked her group of Puffs in her compartment.

"For your birthday? Wouldn't miss it for the world, bestie!" Megan said and threw an arm around her shoulder.

Rose grinned at her in return. "Kind of a pity yours is in the middle of the term. You keep missing out on celebrating with your family."

"Yeah, kind of," Megan said with a shrug. "Most of us aren't lucky summer children like you and your brother."

"True, true." Rose then turned to the others. "How about you guys? Lily, Sally-Anne? Boys?"

"I'll be free again," Susan said, and Hannah confirmed as well that she'd be there again.

"I can come this time!" Sally-Anne answered excitedly.

Lily, however, looked quite regretful. "Sorry, Rose, my family's going away again. St. Lucia this time. I really wish I could come."

Rose felt disappointed as well, but she couldn't blame Lily, obviously. It was understandable that her parents would want to spend as much time with her as possible after she had been away at Hogwarts for almost a year. "That's okay. Hopefully next year, though."

"I'll tell my parents to plan accordingly!"

Rose nodded with a smile and turned to the boys. "So?"

"I'll be there," Ernie said with a polite nod, followed by Justin.

Roger, Wayne and Oliver, however, shook their heads, looking equally as regretful as Lily did.

"Sorry, Rose."

"Holiday trip."

"Visiting family overseas."

"That blows." Rose sighed, but still, there would be quite a few guests. She remembered a time, in her previous life, when she had to sing 'Happy Birthday' to herself. So, she quickly perked up again. "Next year then!"

She then got up from her seat, about to leave the compartment.

"Where are you going?" Megan asked, obviously curious.

"I've got a bunch of more people to invite, though I think Harry already invited two of them."

"Who?"

Rose grinned back at Megan. "You'll see it then."

Before Megan could react, she quickly got out and closed the compartment door behind herself, snickering lowly. It wasn't like she had a big secret to keep, but she knew that Megan would be dying of curiosity now.

She made her way through the Hogwarts Express, peeking inside the compartments here and there, trying to find Harry. While, usually, they'd try to find compartments close to one another, this time he and his friends had found one further at the front of the train, while she and her friends had to move towards the back. Every once in a while she'd see a familiar face, prompting her to give a quick wave. It was odd, but she couldn't deny that she was moving up pretty high on the popularity ladder. In her previous life, things had been quite different. Sure, her name had made her 'popular' back then, probably did so even now – at least the last name – but the _way_ she was popular felt inherently different. Now, in this life, people liked her and enjoyed having her around. They liked talking to her, they liked to listen to what she had to say. At least, it felt like they did. In her previous life, her name had been all she had been popular for – and the not-dying-when-she-should-have-part – but, more often than not, she had felt as if she, as a person back then, had not been appreciated. She had been nice, as she was now. She had liked helping people, as she did now. Details here and there were different, like her being so much more social and including many different people into her social life, but still. To some extent, it had probably been her fault as well, but, for the most part, she made sure to blame the gossipers, Draco Malfoy and the Yellow Press of the wizarding world.

She wasn't bitter, though, or, at least, not anymore. The past was the past, after all, and didn't matter. Her life was good now.

Still searching for Harry, she heard light and faintly familiar giggles from a few compartments ahead. Hastening her steps, she reached the compartment and found Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Sophie Roper and Fay Dunbar. Rose recognized the latter two from her previous life as they had been, and were again, Hermione's other two roommates. They never had been talked about much and, Rose was almost ashamed to admit, she had even forgotten about them. But, here they were once more, and the opportunity was ripe to get to actually get to know them.

"Hey, Lavender, Parvati!" Rose waved at the two, gaining their attention.

Lavender looked confused, just for a moment. Her smile upon seeing and recognizing her was radiant, as was her personality. "Rose! What are you doing here? Not that I mind."

Fay, a slender brunette with blue eyes, scooted closer to Sophie, a short and slightly chubby redhead with a generously freckled face. "Come, sit. I'm Fay, by the way, and that's Sophie."

Rose took the offer with a smile and sat down. "I'm Rose, Harry's twin," she said to the two to her right before turning to Lavender. "To answer _your_ question, I'm handing out invitations for my birthday – not literally handing them out, I'm just telling people...anyway," Rose chuckled after she stumbled over her own words, her cheeks feeling hot, "you are all invited if you guys want to come!"

Lavender looked genuinely surprised, as did the other three girls.

"I honestly didn't expect that," Parvati said. "I mean, you don't really know us and – ow, what the hell, Lav?!"

Rose felt confused at the display in front of her and at the way Lavender was glaring at Parvati. Rose could not remember Lavender ever glaring at anyone; she just wasn't the type. "What's going on?"

Sophie sighed. "We know that Harry hangs with Hermione, and we also know how Hermione talks about us...especially about Lavender."

Rose raised a brow. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I just...thought, you know…" Lavender then shrugged and looked away, a small but noticeable frown on her lips. "I mean, we talked once, but…" Sighing, she returned her gaze to Rose. "It sucks when everyone thinks that you are just a dumb blonde. I'm just thirteen and people already stereotype me. It hurts, even more, when it's another girl I share a dormitory with who got bullied before – and yes, I know about that."

Rose felt incredibly uncomfortable and also guilty. It may not be the case anymore in _this_ life, but she had been one of those who had judged Lavender based on Hermione's complaints. She was doing way better now in that regard, but that guilt was gnawing on her relentlessly. To picture Lavender as someone this insecure and vulnerable was not something she had ever done. The offhanded and casual insults thrown at her had always seemed to just bounce off her, after all. It was, in a way, eye-opening to realize that the exact opposite was the case.

Rose gave Lavender a comforting smile. "Girls stick together, Lavender. What others say or don't say about you doesn't matter to me."

Quite a weight appeared to have been lifted from Lavender's shoulders; she looked a lot more comfortable and relaxed again. "Thank you...that means more to me than you think."

"You are welcome," Rose said and visibly cringed at a sudden thought. "I wanted to invite Hermione as well, though I think Harry already might have."

"You don't have to –" Lavender began with nods from the other girls, but Rose held up an interrupting hand.

"I'll send out letters with the time and location and everything and you can decide then. It's an offer, the invitation stands and I'd love for you all to be there."

The four Gryffindors looked at each other, then turned to nod at Rose.

"That's fair, thank you again!" Lavender said with a smile, speaking for the others as well.

Rose smiled in return and got up from her seat. "I've got Ginny, Hermione and Luna to invite as well, so, I've got to get moving."

The other girls all voiced their understanding and, with a final wave of goodbye, Rose left the compartment. It certainly had taken a way different turn than she had expected, but it had also been eye-opening. Sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, but it appeared to be true when it was said that a girl's biggest enemy was, a lot of times, another girl. It shouldn't be that way, though. Even in her previous life, she had understood that girls had it inherently tougher than boys because of expectations and certain roles tied to their sex. She hadn't really experienced it yet, but she knew she would eventually. And, because of that, girls had to stick together.

She'd have to have a word with Hermione.


	24. Interlude 2

Being back home was just what she had needed. She gave Tappy a big, which the adorable house-elf had happily returned, she tended to her flowers in her room, she spent time with Sirius – she simply recuperated. She used the time to relax, laze around, and to get better with her make-up. Applying nail polish was second nature by now, the charm coming easily to her, but she still struggled a bit with things like eyeliner. Those were a lot more tricky. Still, she had gotten better there as well and she was feeling pretty good about herself.

Despite almost constantly worrying during their second year – which had then turned out to be very well-founded – it had been a good year. If it hadn't been for Lockhart and Harry at the end it, she would have been happy with how it had turned out.

Now, she was on her stomach in her bed and lazily leafing through _Teen-Witch-Weekly_. She couldn't deny that, for a young witch, some of the stuff in this magazine was actually quite useful, especially considering _her_ uniquesituation. The magazine had different sections, like _'a witch's body', a witch's hygiene'_ or _'fashion for young witches'_ , which helped her navigate through this life and womanhood with more confidence. She _had_ grown used to not being Harry anymore and, even more than that, she _had_ grown used to being a girl. She was also very happy with either at this point in her life as Rose Potter. Being a girl was fun, she was very well-liked, she enjoyed messing around with make-up and girls just had the best clothes. Those muggle yoga pants were becoming quite popular with witches, so Rose had ordered herself one to try out and _immediately_ ordered a few more. Muggles definitely knew what they were doing.

Being Harry, on the other hand, had just plain sucked. Sometimes she caught herself wondering if her dislike for her previous life came from her being a boy then or if her happiness as Rose was simply a result of many well-working coincidences. In the end, it didn't matter how or why, though. She was happy. That was enough.

There was a hesitant knock on her door.

"Come in," Rose said without looking up from her magazine.

The door opened and without even looking, she knew that awkward shuffle belonged to Harry. Admittedly, she knew it already from the knock, but this shuffle was like an unneeded confirmation.

"Can I talk to you, Rose?"

 _Uh oh._ Rose marked the page of her magazine and scooted over a bit to make more room for Harry. She then turned onto her side, propping her head up with a hand. "Of course," she said, patting the now empty spot next to her.

Harry gave her a small smile and lay down next to her. He shifted a bit and got even closer to her, making Rose smile faintly. This Harry was a marvel. The way he looked for her affection, sought it out, craved it – Harry truly, genuinely loved her and she couldn't help but cuddle up to him, placing her head in the crook of his arm and just relishing in the closeness of her sibling. In her previous life, she had yearned for a sibling, for a constant companion, for someone whom she could share her burdens with. _This_ hadn't been what she had had in mind, but, honestly, this was so much better than anything she could have hoped for.

"You kind of smell, Harry," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You need to start using some deodorant."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry, it's normal. Boys are smelly during puberty. Girls too."

"I didn't want to talk about our smells, Rose," Harry said, nudging her side.

Rose chuckled. "I know, I was just saying. What _did_ you want to talk about?"

Harry didn't say anything at first. He fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt's sleeve. He then let go of it and rubbed his face with a heavy sigh. "I have a problem," he finally said. "Ron's going to kill me."

Rose's eyebrows shot up high. "Why?"

"I...kinda…" He got quiet again. "You know Ginny, right?"

 _Oh. Ohhhh._ She had a feeling where this was going to go. "I've heard of her," she said, doing her best suppress her grin.

He didn't look at her, just stared at the ceiling. "She's...kinda great, y'know?" He sighed and turned to look at her. "I think...it's just...whenever we talk, or whenever I just see her, I get this feeling in my stomach…"

"You fancy her, don't you?"

Harry groaned, blushing and looking away. "Yeah…"

Rose wanted to tease him a bit but decided against it. She wanted him to feel comfortable when talking to her, after all. "What do you like about her?" she asked instead.

"What's not to like?" Harry asked, sounding excited all of a sudden. "She's so pretty and fun to talk to! She also likes Quidditch…"

Rose just smiled and listened. She was glad Harry went to her with this. He could have gone to Hermione if he felt like he couldn't admit his feelings for Ginny to Ron. Still, he went to her. She was glad she could be there for him like this. There were worse ways to spend an evening than listening to her twin gushing about his crush.

* * *

"Kids, we need to talk."

The grim tone of his voice, his stiff movements, his furrowed brows and clenched jaws – it looked as if Sirius was going to tell them something very upsetting and that worried Rose. Their summer hols had gone so smoothly so far and she didn't need to hear about someone being kidnapped, or worse, killed by Death Eaters or something along those lines. She didn't want bad news.

"Okay…" Harry said and it was clear that he was feeling the same way as she did. He shot her a questioning glance, but Rose could only shrug. She didn't know anything more than he did, after all.

Sirius sat down on the sofa across from them in the guest room and ran a hand through his hair. "This isn't going to be easy and it might make you guys uncomfortable around each other and me, but it's necessary."

Rose furrowed her brows in confusion but, after a few moments, it clicked. Her eyes widened and she paled rapidly. "You are going to give us _The Talk_ , aren't you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Sirius sighed in resignation. "I'm so sorry...this will be harder for me than for you, trust me…"

Rose rapidly got up, Harry immediately jumping after her to follow her out, but she shoved him back onto his spot on the sofa.

"Bloody hell, Rose?!" Harry looked shocked and betrayed, but she couldn't find it in her to feel mercy or pity.

"I already had to suffer through this last Summer when Mrs Weasley gave me _The Talk_." She was already on her way to the door, then looked back at her twin, her eyes lacking remorse. "Now it's your turn, Harry. See you on the other side."

She was past the threshold, then she heard Sirius heave another sigh.

"Let's...let's just get this over with, Harry. When a man and a woman love each other very much…"

She hastened her steps, biting her lips to stifle her laughter. Suddenly she was glad about Mrs Weasley being the one to give her _The Talk_.

* * *

One afternoon, Rose heard the fireplace soar to life and then Sirius was greeting someone. Only muffled, female voices, which she couldn't quite put a face to, made it up her room. Curious, she went down the stairs and was greeted halfway by Megan.

"Surprise!" her best friend said with her hands thrown up.

Rose was, indeed, surprised, but quickly walked down the rest of the stairs to hug Megan. "What are you doing here? Not that I mind, but…?"

Megan linked an arm through hers and led her up the stairs. "Turns out my cousin Hestia is your godfather's mind-healer, so I figured I might as well come with and surprise you!"

Rose allowed herself being led to her own room. "Oh, I didn't know that. I completely forgot to ask Sirius how his therapy is going because he looks so well." She cringed a bit. "Now I feel terrible."

"No need for that. See it as a sign that things are going very great," Megan said as she was waving at Harry, who had his head poked out of his room, probably to see who the guest was.

"Yeah, but still." She had asked Sirius once during the school year but since then kind of forgotten about it.

They sat down on her bed, Megan looking around. "Your gardening thing was not a phase, huh?" she asked with a grin, eyeing the dancing little flowers and giggling at the nonsensical, high-pitched chatter. "Professor Sprout would be _so_ proud of you if she knew."

Rose chuckled. "Probably. It's fun though. You should at least try it."

Megan shivered at that thought. "No way. Dealing with those babies-as-roots-thingies was more than enough gardening to last for a lifetime."

Rose had to giggle at that. Megan _hated_ herbology and only survived the exams thanks to tons of tutoring from her. Rose didn't mind, though, and if she did she'd be a huge hypocrite. After all, Hermione had, in the previous life, saved Ron and her more than once. On top of that, to be that good at something – good enough to tutor others – was something she took great pride in. Herbology now was what DADA used to be to her when she used to be Harry.

Megan nudged her into her side after a bit of quiet. "I also see you've messed around a bit with your new make-up kit."

"Yep." Nothing to be ashamed of there. She was a girl, liked being it and enjoyed almost all the things that came with it – _curse you, menstruation!_ – and with every passing day she felt more as if she had finally... _arrived_ in this life. "I'm getting better at it every time!"

"I can see that," Megan said, taking a closer look at her handiwork. "Not bad. Just a tiny bit smudgy over there, but l, otherwise, very well done."

Rose felt proud. To hear that from Megan was quite the big deal since she was the resident expert in those things in their group of friends. "I also got myself some yoga pants," Rose said, getting up from the bed and walking to her wardrobe, tossing a pair of said pants to Megan.

Megan caught it with a hand, feeling the material. "You mind if I try it on?"

"Go ahead," Rose said.

Megan immediately stripped off her pants and put on Rose's new yoga pants. "They are comfy. Kinda snug, but in a good way." She gave an impressed nod. "I was sceptical when reading about them in Teen-Witch-Weekly, but, Merlin, they are comfy."

"I know!"

They then chatted a bit more, Megan taking off the yoga pants and putting on her pair of jeans again.

She, of course, had had times like these both with Ron and Hermione; times when they just chatted and talked. Even with Ginny, when Rose – had helped with cleaning Grimmauld Place after arriving there from the Dursleys. And yet, compared to her time with Megan, it all fell flat somehow. It fell flat because it had all been tainted by the dangers they had faced throughout the years, by Cedric's death, by Voldemort's return. She would be a liar if she said that, every once in a while, she didn't think back fondly, especially when seeing them chat and laugh with Harry. _That used to be me_ , she'd think. But no, she didn't use to be this Harry. This Harry was just himself; a normal teenager living a normal life with his friends. _She_ used to be someone entirely different – she used to be someone who had never really had that chance at normalcy.

But here, now, she was Rose Potter with her best friend Megan Jones. She was a teenage girl with her teenage best friend talking about muggle yoga pants and Teen-Witch-Weekly and it felt natural, comforting, _normal_. Megan – all of her Puffs, but Megan especially – made her feel grounded and like a normal, teenage witch. She loved that. She loved being _herself._ She loved Megan and their friendship.

She loved her life.

"So," Megan began, a small grin tucking at her lips, "how much have you talked with Mr Diggory this summer?"

Rose's expression turned deadpan immediately. "I haven't talked with Cedric's dad at all."

Megan groaned. "Ugh, you're no fun!" She then let herself drop onto the bed. "You haven't talked with Cedric at all then? Not a single letter?"

"No," Rose said with a sigh. "Why in Merlin's name would I?"

"I don't know. I had the hope that not seeing him would make you less oblivious to your feelings." Megan then shook her head in mock disappointment. "I expected better from you."

"Sorry to disappoint, I guess," Rose said with a shrug. "I honestly don't know where you guys have this weird notion that I might fancy him." She didn't even want to think about the confusion her hypothetical love life as Rose would bring. "And even if I did fancy him – which I don't – but even if I did, then it doesn't mean that he would return those feelings."

"He'd have to be seriously blind," Megan said. "Just between the two of us – in our whole year, you and Lavender Brown – that blonde Gryffindor – are by far the prettiest girls."

Rose blushed at that. "That's just bollocks and you know that," she said, but still leaned over to give Megan a tight hug. That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her, this life or her Harry-life. "You are just as pretty," she then said, "if not prettier."

It wasn't even said to just compliment her back. Megan _was_ a very pretty girl. Shoulder length black hair, caramel brown eyes, pale skin that contrasted nicely with her hair, a bit on the shorter side like her, similarly petite, though her cheeks were still a bit on the chubbier side with persistent baby fat. In Rose's opinion, it made Megan look adorable.

"Awww." Megan returned the hug with ferocity.

"I could really go for some treacle tart right now," Rose then said when retracting herself from the hug.

"And I will never stop envying the fact that you can eat the way you do without gaining _any_ weight."

Rose just laughed and shrugged before calling for Tappy.

Eating treacle tart, a surprise visit from Megan – she wished she could spend every day like that.


	25. Questions Without Answers

She looked at herself in the mirror. Stark naked, she took a very good look. Smooth and pale skin, faint freckles dusting around her nose, soft lips, smooth and healthy skin, long and shiny red hair – she was, undoubtedly, a very beautiful girl. Sure, her curves still needed to fill out quite a bit, her limbs still looked awkward and gangly and her breasts were barely noticeable.

Still, she liked herself. The thing was that, so far, while she had accepted herself and this body, it had all been very platonic. The reality was, however, that this body would be hers for the rest of this life and she needed to get to know it, sooner or later. She was at _that_ age, after all. She definitely knew how to burp the worm, but knew nothing when it came to the female side of things. And now, that she was female…

Her heart was beating fast when she tested her door to make sure it was locked. Harry was on the other side of the wall as well – nope, she didn't want to think about that. This was about some _me-time_ , exploration and experimentation for her.

She laid down on top of her blanket and looked down at herself. It probably would be best to start slow without going for the main event first thing. So, nervously, she touched her breasts. O _h, yes_. A small gasp escaped her when she touched her nipples and areola. That made sense that those places would be a crapton more sensitive than the rest of her breasts. She'd showered often enough to know that by now. Her nipples? That felt nice. _Very_ nice. She played with them a bit longer, trying different things out from teasing them, to gently rubbing and rolling them between her fingers. She felt wetness collecting between her legs, slowly but surely. She'd had had, much to her embarrassment, wet dreams. The feeling of being wet was oddly natural, she had to admit. She'd have thought that, after years of living with a stiffy every morning, she'd find this weird, but no. It felt natural.

She spread her legs and let her right hand wander – her left hand was still busy with her nipples because it felt too nice and she didn't want to stop. It was a pleasurable journey, accompanied by gentle gasps and laboured breathing, but the excitement of what was yet to come was palpable. She reached her vulva – those articles about a girls anatomy in _Teen-Witch-Weekly_ had been godsent – and a shaky breath escaped her. It was pure excitement.

Spreading her legs even farther, she ran her fingers along her slit – the inner lips were already swollen.

It still felt natural.

She toyed with the thought of trying penetration but was still scared of doing that. Instead, she started to gently rub herself. While her nipples felt nice, this felt pretty great. A soft sigh escaped her as she enjoyed herself, her hand and fingers now very slick with wetness.

With one certain movement, she touched a particular spot with the heel of her hand, making her whole pelvis surge up at the touch. Her eyes shot open and she looked down. Did she just –?

She moved her hand up, gently touching that tiny bump covered in skin folds. Oh, she found her clit. While rubbing her vaginal lips felt great, _this_ felt utterly fantastic.

She bit her bottom lip with a wide grin. Her eyes were closed, her breathing heavy through her nose, and her hand so, _so_ busy. Gently at first, she quickly found the perfect amount of pressure to apply and, soon after, a nice, pleasurable rhythm. More and more laboured, her breathing was becoming increasingly irregular and her heartbeat borderline painful and then, her whole body was under an electric shock. Her legs clamped down on her right hand, her left hand squeezing her nipple. She turned to the side and moaned, high-pitched, into her pillow. She didn't even care if anyone heard.

A moment later, after her orgasm had subsided and her body had become jelly, she held her breath, listening in fear of someone rushing to her room.

She hoped that no one had heard her. That'd be embarrassing.

* * *

**MINISTRY HID SERIES OF ASSASSINATIONS OF OFFICIALS**

* * *

The mood was dour, a week away from their birthday. Rose was sitting at the breakfast table together with Harry and Sirius, the Daily Prophet's headline glaring at them something fierce.

"What about the families of those that were killed?" Harry asked. "Why haven't they said anything? What about Bones? Why didn't she say anything?"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't know, kid. This _reeks_ massively. It's just like Fudge to hide shite like this. Sorry."

He got up and put a Galleon in the swear jar. Rose still couldn't believe that they even had one. What made it even more ridiculous was the fact that half of the money in there came from Sirius himself.

"I think we should cancel our birthday party," Rose said, though it did pain her to do so. She knew, without a doubt, that this was the work of Death Eaters. She had to wonder why they were making their moves so soon, of course, but whatever the reason, it just couldn't be a good one. She knew what they were capable of and she hated to be the one to voice her doubt about hosting a large gathering of teenagers, but it had to be done. Better safe than sorry. Death Eaters didn't hold back against children.

She gave Harry a helpless shrug after he looked at her with surprise and disappointment. Sirius just sighed.

"I dreaded bringing that up, so...thanks, Rose," their godfather said, "but I agree that it's for the best." He walked back to the table and sat down. "Every witch and wizard knows your birthdays and it's risky. We'd have to be outside somewhere because, as big as Grimmauld Place is, it's not big enough to host all the kids you invited. Seeing this…" He sighed again. "Something's been brewing for a while and the minister hid it."

Harry frowned, so Rose leaned over and placed her hand on his arm. "It's for the best. I've looked forward to this as much as you did."

"I know," her twin said, though his obvious disappointment didn't let up. "This just blows."

"It does, kid," Sirius said, combing his fingers through his hair. "I want nothing more than for you two to have as normal a childhood as possible, but...this is just risky."

The rest of their breakfast passed in silence.

* * *

Their summer passed by quickly, thankfully. More and more things had been brought to light by the Prophet and the tension wizarding Britain as a whole was feeling didn't stop from Grimmauld Place. Rose remembered how close to the ministry the newspaper had been in her previous life, so, this was again something new, something different. Ministry officials missing or assassinated, entire families disappeared from the face of the earth, suspicious payments traced back to the minister – Fudge was under pressure and the wizarding world was in a state of shock and disbelief. All of that because the Daily Prophet uncovered these things. All of that because of Rita Skeeter.

Rose couldn't even say that she'd be surprised if Skeeter happened to be a straight-edge, honest journalist with a genuine moral compass in this reality.

The hustle and bustle of platform 9 ¾ were at least comforting and familiar, though even here Rose could see the tension in every parent's face as they were about to send their children away for almost a year. She couldn't blame them. Considering what had come to light during the summer, anyone would agree that any worry was warranted.

"I don't want to let you kids go, but I also know that Hogwarts is just as safe as our home," Sirius said.

Rose leaned into his side and allowed him to wrap his arms around her. _Our home_. "We'll be fine," she said with confidence, doing her best to reassure him.

"Yeah, I'll protect Rosie, don't worry," Harry said.

She had to snort at that. "Right."

The Hogwarts Express then whistled for the first time, prompting them to hug Sirius goodbye, grab their trunks and get onto the train. She looked out and gave him another wave goodbye, feeling bad because of his half-hearted smile and obvious worry. There just was nothing either of them could do.

Harry had apparently already found his friends and compartment, so she kept walking towards the back, where her friends would usually be. She passed a few familiar faces, stopped for a quick _hi_ here and there, then found Cedric's compartment.

"Hey, Rose!" he greeted her with a wide smile, making her smile in return.

"Hey," she said and suddenly felt awkward, shifting from one leg to the other, her face heating up. "How – how are you?"

"I'd like to say _fine_ , but, well...you know the things the Prophet printed over the summer," he said with a sigh, his friends looking equally serious.

"Yeah, and it all came out nowhere as well, right?" she said, starting to feel even hotter, her blush boiling her brain.

"No one could have expected it...anyway," he said and put on his kind smile again, "I don't want to keep you standing there. I saw a few of your friends walk farther down the back."

"Okay, thanks!" She started to walk, then felt herself blush _even more_ and walked the couple of paces back. "Bye!"

Before he could react, she quickly walked away from his compartment, her face still beet red and her eyes wide as saucers. While walking through the train, dragging her trunk behind her, she didn't even see where she was going. Her mind was too occupied with what had just taken place.

_Bloody hell was that?!_

She didn't know what in the world had come over her, but she hated it and was embarrassed beyond belief. It had been a normal chat. Two normal people having a normal chat. That was normal.

So, _why_ did she have to track back just to tell him _goodbye_? Hadn't her _goodbye_ already been implied when she had said _'okay, thanks'_?

"Rose, where are you going?"

She was startled out of her thoughts and looked to her right, Megan waving at her.

"Hi, guys," she said and joined them, allowing Oliver to stow her trunk away while she plopped down with her face buried in her hands.

"What's going on?" Megan asked, rubbing her back. "Are you alright?"

"I just talked with Cedric," she said, "and our chat was over and I walked to look for you guys, but I forgot to say bye to him even though I basically said bye and I walked back to say bye. I'm an idiot." Never had she thought that she'd spill her guts like this, but here she was, spilling her guts like this.

"That's it?" Ernie asked with obvious confusion.

"It was embarrassing!" Rose wailed, her face still buried behind her hands. "It was so stupid!"

"It could've been worse," Megan said and Rose glanced at her best friend and her infuriating grin.

"What?"

Megan shrugged. "Nothing, nothing...just funny how Mr Diggory is suddenly affecting you like this."

"He's not affecting me!" Rose said, heat creeping up her face again. "I'm just embarrassed because –"

"– you did something mildly silly in front of him and are blowing it out of proportion," Wayne said and they all looked at him. "What? I know stuff."

"You like him, don't you?" Sally-Anne said.

Rose sighed. "No."

She crossed her arms over her chest. She was sure she looked like a petulant child, but she couldn't help it. As soon as Cedric was involved in any shape or form with _anything_ she did, they turned it into her fancying him. Sure, he was nice and everything and they got along well, but that didn't mean that she liked boys. She never liked boys! What would that even make her in this life? Hetero- or homosexual? Just thinking about it was giving her a headache, so, it was time to change the topic.

"My uncle Remus Lupin is going to be our DADA professor," she said and, lo and behold, everyone forgot about Cedric.

"Really?" "That's cool?" "What's he like?" "You must be happy!"

"He hasn't told us any of his plans for the class, so, neither me nor Harry have a clue what he's going to do," Rose said. She, of course, knew what DADA under Remus was going to be like but her friends didn't need to know that.

"Oh, okay," Ernie said. "Makes sense, I suppose. Have you read the Prophet over the summer, by the way?"

"Yeah," Rose said and the others all nodded as well. "Susan, I've been wondering if there was a reason your aunt hasn't come forward about all those things? She usually strikes me as someone straightforward, so…" She shrugged, not sure how else to convey what she wanted to say.

"I've asked her as well, but she hasn't told me anything," Susan said, looking quite distraught about the whole thing. "She's barely been at home the whole summer."

That didn't sound good at all. Sirius had been right when he said that something had been brewing for a while now. Neither of them had seen or heard anything. Hell, their greatest enemy so far had been a crazy dangerous Lockhart and that was for no other reason than his ego. This, however...dead and missing ministry personnel, hidden from the public from the ministry itself and no one knew why neither of their families had come forward – it stank and it stank big time.

Before her mind could drift further into the rabbit hole of unanswered questions, the train slowed down and dread filled her stomach. She remembered what had happened the last time when riding the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts for her third year. The question was why _they_ were here _now_. Sirius was cleared. So, who were they looking for?

The train had stopped fully now, the first thin layer of frost appearing on the windows.

"What's going on?" Justin asked, clearly worried.

Rose didn't know whether she should act as if she hadn't a clue herself or whether she should sprinkle a bit of knowledge to help her friends brace themselves for the situation. She could always explain it away with Sirius.

Her decision had been taken away from her, however, when the voices in her head were starting to take over. To know that she couldn't cast the _patronus_ because she would have a lot of explaining to do in the aftermath blew, but it couldn't be helped. She had to go through this. She had to suffer through this. Remus would chase them away again. She was sure of it.

The tall, hooded figure was standing by their compartment, looking without eyes. She shivered. Her vision darkened.

_"Please leave my children!"_

_"Step away, foolish girl."_

_A green flash._

_Ghastly hands reached out and dragged him in. He tried to save him. He couldn't die because of him. The hands touched him as well._

_"Mr Potter. Why are you here?"_

_He was dead._

* * *

"...se! Rose!"

"Calm down, Ms Jones. Rose will be okay. Eat your chocolate, please. It will help."

Rose groaned. She felt weak and cold. And tired. Most of all tired. Her head was on someone's lap.

She opened her eyes but the glaring brightness of the midday forced them shut again.

"You're awake!" It was Megan's lap. "How are you feeling, sweety?"

"Shite…" she said, her voice raspy. "Bollocks, I feel like shite…"

Opening her eyes again, albeit a lot more slowly and carefully this time, she sat up with the help of a few arms, a few of her friends apparently having stood close by.

"Rose?"

She looked up and smiled weakly at the kind, tired and scarred face of Remus. "Hi. How is Harry?"

"He is fine, although he lost consciousness as you did. Miss Weasley was quite worried." A chuckle escaped Remus at the last part and even Rose had to giggle at that. "Here. Eat this."

Rose took the chocolate bar, unwrapped it and immediately took a bite, the comfortable warmth spreading through her and the incessant shivering finally starting to cease. "Thanks, Uncle Remus."

"It's Professor Lupin to you now, Missy," he said with a wink and ruffled – _ruined_ – her hair.

Looking decidedly unimpressed, she combed her fingers through her hair.

This term's start wasn't promising at all, so far.


	26. A Lonesome Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your eyes are not deceiving you – this is an honest-to-god update! Sorry for the long wait, but other fics, then a lack of time, then me working on a first original novel I want to write took me away from this. I missed it though, so I forced myself to sit down and write this chapter. Here ya'll go!

Ah, yes. The fainting-incident. Not much changed there aside from the fact that it wasn't just Harry Potter fainting, but his twin sister as well. Rose had already expected Malfoy and his gorillas to mock them and she was, unfortunately, not disappointed.

The moment she stepped into the Great Hall with Harry after Madam Pomfrey had checked them over, there were whispers and stares. At the far end of the hall, she could also make out a certain snotty, blonde brat mimicking them fainting with the back of his hand against his forehand.

Rose glanced at Harry, who was clenching his fists and furrowing his brows. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she squeezed it. "Ignore that bellend. I guess we are just a bit more affected by dementors."

"Yeah…" He still looked pretty embarrassed. She'd been there, though. Fainting when everyone else didn't was a blow to the ego, especially when male.

After giving him a quick hug, she walked to the Hufflepuff table and sat down next to Megan. "Hi, guys. I'm all good."

"Are you sure?" Megan asked, giving her a critical once-over. "You still look kind of peaky."

"I'm okay, honest." She was still feeling a bit shivery, but, aside from that, she really was doing okay.

"I hate dementors," Justin said.

She nodded in understanding. He'd been exposed to them for the first time today. Poor bloke. "Everyone does," she said with a sigh. "They are terrible creatures."

"Yeah…" He still looked quite shaken.

She couldn't blame him either. Even though she could say that she was used to dementors and how they affected her, it was still a bad experience. Besides, having to say that one had grown used to dementors was just a bad sign, no matter how you looked at it.

She turned to look at the staff table. Remus was already sitting there, chatting with one of the teachers she didn't know from her past life; plus, she had to admit, that she never had paid particular attention when Hermione had talked about all the other electives. She'd get to know at least Professor Septima Vector this time around and, much to her elation, Megan and Susan had chosen Arithmancy as well. Rose also had picked Care as her second elective together with Megan, as did Lily, Hannah and Sally-Anne. Susan had opted for Muggle Studies instead to feel closer to the muggle side of her family. It always saddened her when she remembered that Susan – and Neville too – had suffered great losses because of Voldemort.

Harry, though, was like she had been as Harry when it came to picking electives: he took the easy way with Care and Divination, no matter how much she had complained. It annoyed her, but if he wanted to have his death predicted whenever he showed up in that class, then that was what he was going to get.

She couldn't wait for the _'I Told You So'_ -moment once it would inevitably arrive – not that she had told him that his inevitable death would be constantly foretold, but that the class was just plain bad.

* * *

The first day of classes came the next morning and she was, admittedly, worried. In her past life, her third year hadn't been fun at all. Finding out about her parents and how they had been betrayed by someone they had trusted, even if she had at first blamed the wrong one – through no fault of her own, she might add – had been difficult. Even more than that, however, had been the fact that they had caught the real traitor in Pettigrew and then lost him. She had ended up being successful in this life, of course, but still.

_This_ third year, with the whole ministry and assassinations business, followed by the dementors... it certainly hadn't started well. So, she felt her worries were warranted.

It was best not to be too obvious, however. Instead of going full Harry-mode and starting to silently brood, she did her best to be positive and engaging in conversations at the Hufflepuff table.

"We only have double potions and transfiguration today, ugh," Megan complained.

"Well, that sucks," Rose commented after swallowing her mouthful of buttered toast while confirming Megan's complaints with her own timetable. "I'm curious about Arithmancy, so at least we've got that tomorrow, I guess. It's annoying when the term starts in the middle of the week."

"Yeah, we'll have to wait until next week for DADA and Care," Justin complained.

"How are you today, Justin?" Rose asked after yesterday's event rushed back to the forefront of her mind. "Feeling better?"

He nodded. "Thanks for asking."

She smiled at him and returned her attention to her breakfast. At least Justin appeared to be over the initial shock and experience of the effect dementors had on humans. It was doubtful, however, that he would ever completely forget about it. She knew she never could and she was sure that any person experiencing a dementor's presence would never forget that feeling.

"Can't imagine what your godfather must have gone through," Justin said after a few moments with a sigh. "So many years with those things around and while innocent too…"

"He's getting a lot better, though." Rose thought for a moment, then turned to Megan sitting next to her. "Your cousin really knows her stuff."

Megan immediately started gushing. "Hestia is super cool! I want to be a healer too after graduating because she always makes it sound like so much fun!" Her eyes looked all sparkly in her excitement. "You should too! We could work together and everything!"

"I actually haven't thought about what I want to do after Hogwarts," Rose said, then shrugged. "There's still time though. We still have a few years."

"They will pass faster than we can blink," Oliver said with all the wisdom of a thirteen-years-old teenage boy whose voice had just started to change.

"Look at that, Ollie! Your voice is finally cracking!" Sally-Anne teased him, then pinched his cheeks, much to his annoyance.

" _Finally_? What am _I_ supposed to say then?" Wayne complained. "My voice isn't changing at all."

"You still have time," Lily said. "In _Teen-Witch-Weekly_ it said that it can take until a boy is fourteen for their voice to change."

"Harry's hasn't started to change either, but he's started to smell all oniony." Rose wrinkled her nose. "It's normal though. Girls don't smell that much better."

"I know right? Puberty just _stinks_ ," Sally-Anne said with a grin, only to earn herself various groans and _boohs._

"Why are we talking about stinking teenage bodies during breakfast, guys?" Justin complained. _"Come on!"_

"Hey, Rose," she heard a deep but kind voice call out to her, causing her to look up and immediately grin, her cheeks feeling hot all of a sudden.

"Hey, Cedric!" She waved at him as he passed by with his friends. Her eyes lingered a second or two longer on him than necessary before she turned back to her friends. Megan and Sally-Anne failed miserably at hiding their infuriating grins. "Shut up!" she said and felt her face burn up. "I don't _like_ -like him!"

"Didn't say anything," Megan said, accompanied by the snickering of the rest of their group.

Rose just huffed. _Pests_.

* * *

Their first weekend back at Hogwarts came faster than they were used to, but none of them was even thinking about complaining.

They didn't have much to do in terms of homework yet, which was why they decided to spend some of their time outside by the lake while the weather was still pleasant. Rose and the rest of the girls were outside, letting their feet dangle in the lake and lounging lazily under Scotland's early autumn-sun. It was a comfortable Saturday for a – mostly, these last three years at least – comfortable life she had been able to lead as Rose Potter. She just wished she could solely concentrate on this comfort, but, for as long as Voldemort was still lurking somewhere in the shadows, she knew that it would be impossible to do so.

Still, these moments were precious to her and, unlike when she was still Harry Potter, she did her best to make the most of them. Who could say, after all, for how much longer she would be able to have them?

Rose was lying on a bath towel on her back, her yoga pants rolled up to her knees and her feet in the water while she was snacking on a chocolate bar. She could see Harry and his group a bit farther down the lake. She still had to have _that talk_ with Hermione, because of her conversation with Lavender Brown in the Express after their second year had ended. She had at least managed to talk her out of taking every bloody elective once they had to choose, though. It had been a bit of a pain, but, after Hermione had asked for her opinion, she had managed.

"That hairband suits you, Rose!"

Rose tilted her head a bit to look behind her while still lying on her back and grinned. Speak – or more like _think_ – of the devil. "Hey, Lavender! Parvati!" she sat up and turned around, her feet now out of the water and on her towel. "How are you? Come join us!"

The other girls all smiled welcomingly as well and made room for the two Gryffindors to sit on their Hufflepuff-themed bath towels.

Rose then grinned and pointed at the broad, teal-coloured fabric hairband with floral print she was wearing. "I love it! Thank you so much!"

Lavender grinned back. "You're welcome! Too bad your birthday party got cancelled, though."

"We were all looking forward to that," Susan agreed with a sigh.

"Hopefully next time, then," Rose said with a shrug.

"Where'd you get those hairbands anyway?" Megan asked. "They are really cute."

"There's this little shop in the Diagon Alley's muggle district called _GiGi's Witch Fashion_ , it's my go-to! Madam Malkin's really only is too formal to be fashionable."

"You have to take us there at some point then," Rose said and received nods from all the girls.

A happy grin graced Lavender's face at that. "I'd love to!"

"Did _your_ parents make an issue out of signing the Hogsmeade permission?" Parvati asked them. "My parents are _so_ worried because of what the Prophet revealed during summer."

"My mum really didn't want to let me go and when she told my dad, who's a muggle, it really was just me against them...thankfully I won at least," Megan said.

"I'm muggle-born...my parents don't exactly know what's going on here," Lily said with a shrug and a small grin.

"It's a mess," Susan commented with a sigh. "We should just be enjoying our time here…"

Rose could only nod in agreement.

"Hey, I think Malfoy is looking at you again, Rose," Sally-Anne suddenly said.

Lavender immediately perked up at that. "What? What do you mean by _'again'_?"

And while her friends were busy with filling Lavender in, Rose was screaming inwardly. She looked around the lake again and her eyes caught something interesting.

"Isn't that Tracey Davis?" she asked, looking at the lonesome figure, who was sitting by herself at the lake and scribbling down on some piece of parchment. Now thinking about it, Rose couldn't remember a moment when Tracey hadn't been alone outside of class.

"Where?" Sally-Anne asked, knelt behind her and put her chin on her shoulder to follow her line of sight better. "Oh, you are right, that's Tracey Davis."

"Oh! Last year I heard Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass talk in the loo about her," Lavender said, looking quite sad. "Like, how she's a half-blood and how she's dirtying their house and how her mother is a...you know, _slag_ , and blood-traitor _._ I think she's having a terrible time in her house."

"They are all just thirteen," Rose complained with a shake of her head. "They are all just kids like us. They shouldn't care about blood-purity."

"My aunt always says that it's, and I quote, _'always adults who poison the minds of children with stupid thoughts, ideas and ideals'_ ," Susan said. "It makes even more sense now, I guess."

Megan nodded. "That's so true!"

Looking back towards Tracey, Rose felt reminded of the times when she felt the most alone at Hogwarts and they all took place in her past life. There had been the second year when everyone thought that she had been behind those petrifications and that she was Slytherin's heir. Then, there had also been her fourth year, when everyone had thought, that she was nothing but a glory hunter and even Ron had joined that narrative – just thinking about that still stung horribly. Or fifth year, when she was supposedly as mad as a hatter. Probably madder. She had felt so alone and isolated, even when Ron or Hermione or both had been by her side.

She felt bad for Tracey.

* * *

With Monday came their first DADA class of their third year. Rose was curious to see if anything would change aside from her relationship with Remus, or if he would teach the class the way she remembered him to.

They arrived at the classroom and the Slytherins were already waiting there. Rose took a quick look around and spotted Tracey, standing by herself and isolated from both the boys and girls of her year. She glanced at her friends and nodded towards Tracey, then walked up to the girl. She looked quite pretty, even with that dark frown; her dark brown hair, button nose, long eye-lashes, pale skin with light rosy cheeks all made for a nice, whole package. She could definitely see her with Oliver or Wayne or Roger and before she went any further down _that_ rabbit hole – the rabbit hole being her as a matchmaker – she pulled herself out of it and concentrated on what she actually wanted to do.

"Hey, Tracey," Rose said and leaned against the wall next to the Slytherin, successfully startling her.

Tracey looked at her with wide eyes, her hand on her chest. "Oh," she said, taking a deep breath through her nose, then went back to frowning. "Potter. What do you want?"

"Just wanted to say that, if you ever feel like you could use some company or don't want to study alone or need help with something...feel free to join us." Rose pointed at her group of friends with her thumb.

"Look at that, a blood-traitor's spawn feels bad for another blood-traitor's spawn!"

Rose whipped her head around, glaring daggers at Pansy Parkinson, her temper lost as quickly as if she were still Harry. "No one asked for your worthless opinion, you stinking turd!"

"What did you just say, half-blood?!" Pansy hissed at her. "You and your brother should have joined your parents," she whispered, her voice dripping venom, "the world would be a _cleaner place_!"

"You better take that back, Pansy, or we will all hex you into oblivion."

Rose turned to look at an uncharacteristically angry-looking Megan, leading the other Puffs, all with their wands out and pointed at the pug-faced girl, who quickly lost all of her bravado. It made her a bit teary-eyed, she was so touched.

Now was not the time for that, though.

Just before she could say anything further to Pansy, however, the door to the classroom opened and out stepped a surprised looking Remus.

"This doesn't look like friendly banter, I'm afraid." Remus closed the door behind him and looked at the spectacle, her friends now with their wands quickly stowed away. "Someone care to tell me what happened?"

"Rose was just chatting with Tracey, then Pansy said something about them both being blood-traitor-spawn, then Rose told her to keep quiet, then Pansy said that she wished Rose and Harry were both dead like their parents and then we got angry," Megan explained.

Pansy gaped at Megan's recap of the events. "She didn't just tell me to keep quiet, you liar! She called me a stinking turd!"

Rose earned herself a raised eyebrow from Remus. "Did you call her that, Rose?" he asked her.

"Was I supposed to lie?" Rose retorted in a deadpan voice.

Her friends giggled and she could even hear Tracey's soft snickers behind her. She could also just barely make out the faint twitch of Remus's lips, but he still managed to keep a straight face. "10 points from Hufflepuff because of insulting your classmate. Another 10 points for every drawn wand, which makes for a total of one-hundred-and-ten points."

"Don't care," Roger said, "I'd rather lose every point than be quiet against someone like her."

Ernie gave a firm nod. "Agreed."

"Miss Parkinson," Remus began, his attention now on the Slytherin, "200 points from Slytherin for the use of derogatory language and wishing _death_ upon your fellow students. Also, detention for a week. I hope you understand the severity of your actions. I will also have to inform your Head of House. The same goes for the Hufflepuffs." He sighed. "Let us get inside."

Rose followed Remus, but not before glancing at Tracey and returning the small, grateful smile the Slytherin gave her.

* * *

DADA appeared to be the same as it had been in her past life. She didn't mind. It was even rather perfect, that her boggart was, once again, a dementor. Remus hadn't stopped her this time and she hadn't asked why, because that would have been weird, considering Harry hadn't even had DADA yet. It was a small change to her past life. Still, making that dementor grow flowers all over and radiant sunshine had been rather fun.

But now, after the day was over, she and her friends were standing in front of Gabriel Truman and Maxine O'Flaherty in their common room, who were now seventh-years, but neither of them was head-boy or -girl.

"I cannot believe that you have pointed _ten wands_ at someone! I mean, I get it! I get what that Parkinson-bitch said was horrible and that you defended your friend and that's great! It really is! But we aren't Gryffindors who just –" Maxine waved her arms around and then let them drop in frustration. "Gah! I'm so mad!"

"Look, kids...we, as Hufflepuffs...our first response at petty insults – as horrible as what she said was, it was still nothing but a petty insult – is _not_ to point our wands at someone," Gabriel said, now taking over from Maxine. "We aren't saying that you should just roll over and let others walk all over you. We're telling you to be better than them. Just straight up pointing wands doesn't make you better; it makes you stupid."

Whereas they had been defiant before, now they all felt bad and looked down at the floor.

"And we know you aren't stupid," Maxine continued. " _That's_ what really makes me mad. It's not even about the points – we can earn them back! It's about your actions and how they reflect on Hufflepuff as a whole!"

"Sorry," they all said, Rose toeing the floor and scratching her arm, unsure what else to do with herself. The whole house was watching as they were getting reamed out worse than anyone had since she had started her Hogwarts career as Rose Potter.

"Rose, you will be suspended from the first Quidditch match. Cedric will play."

"But she didn't even draw her wand!" Megan complained in her stead.

Maxine looked unimpressed. "Did she stop you?"

"I didn't," Rose said, defeated. That blew.

"The rest of you will clean the common room for a week. I will tell Professor Sprout to have the house-elves leave our common room alone for that time."

"Still worth it, Roger?" Sally-Anne asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Shut up."

"We don't like punishing you kids," Gabriel said. "You've made Hufflepuff proud since your first year at Hogwarts, but this wasn't just a small slip. You've _threatened_ a fellow student. I honestly think that Professor Lupin was even a bit lenient with his punishment for you."

Maxine looked at them with hard eyes. "Now scram."

And scram they did.


End file.
